Washington, D.C. October 22, 2014. Yesterday, the National Whistleblower Center filed a “friend of court” brief in Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter before the U.S. Supreme Court. The extensive brief delivers a full rebuttal of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) and Kellogg Brown & Root’s (KBR) attack on the integrity of whistleblowers.
The Chamber and its corporate allies (in this case KBR) are attempting convince the Supreme Court to narrow the scope of whistleblowers eligible to file cases under the False Claims Act. Their position would block whistleblowers with key original information on government fraud from filing their cases by a hyper technical technicality.
The National Whistleblower Center vigorously opposes the position of the Chamber and fully explained to the Court how the FCA is the most important tool for uncovering fraud. As explained in the National Whistleblower Center’s brief, currently 80% of the FCA fraud cases filed by the government were triggered by whistleblower disclosures. By cutting off those disclosures the Chamber and its allies will radically undermine the ability of the government to police fraudulent contractors. The cost to the taxpayers will be in the billions of dollars.
“Over the last 30 years, the FCA has been the most successful law protecting whistleblowers,” stated Stephen M. Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center and author of the Amicus brief. “Billions of dollars have been recovered and more whistleblowers have been vindicated under the FCA than any other federal law. By destroying the FCA the Chamber and its corporate allies want to destroy the most important tool in the federal government’s arsenal for fight fraud,” said Kohn.
Please circulate the National Whistleblower Center’s brief to friends and colleagues. Parts one and two rebut the false statements being circulated by the Chamber. Please TAKE ACTION and ask Congress to protect the False Claims Act. The best way to support the National Whistleblower Center’s efforts to protect the False Claims Act is to make a modest donation of $25 or more and receive a copy of The Whistleblower’s Handbook as a token of our appreciation. If you already own a copy, pass one to someone else so that whistleblowers are armed with information.
The Whistleblower’s Handbook is a “vastly shrewd and practical” tool that “offers an astute long view of American whistle-blowing.”–The Boston Globe
