“Floyd Landis whistleblower suit targets more than Lance Armstrong.”

Peter Chatfield in The Washington Post, 1/17/13.

False Claims Act whistleblower suits, which date from the Civil War era, are a mechanism for encouraging someone with information about fraud against the government – oftentimes an “insider” in a case of wrongdoing – to come forward, explains Peter Chatfield of Washington-based Phillips & Cohen, which specializes in such cases.

“The plaintiff’s reward is a percentage of the money that’s recovered – 15-25 percent if the U.S. Department of Justice joins the action and takes the lead role in the case, or 25-30 percent if the private plaintiff pursues the case without the government’s help or resources,” Chatfield said.

“Floyd Landis whistleblower suit targets more than Lance Armstrong.”