Court Denies Reward For Whistleblower Who Aided Scheme

The whistleblower in a False Claims Act case that settled for $19 million won’t get any of it, said a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The relator in the case, which concerned false billing on a nuclear cleanup, had admitted his role in the fraud and pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy. As the court couched the question: Does the FCA require the relator to be dismissed “even if he or she only played a minor role?” The answer, it concluded, was yes.