False Claims Act of 1863

E250311

The False Claims Act of 1863 is a U.S. federal law, originally enacted during the Civil War, that allows the government and private whistleblowers to pursue civil actions against individuals and companies defrauding government programs.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
False Claims Act of 1863 canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States federal statute
anti-fraud law
whistleblower protection law
allows civil actions against companies defrauding government programs
civil actions against individuals defrauding government programs
alsoKnownAs Lincoln Law
appliesTo contractors doing business with the United States government
recipients of federal funds
subcontractors on federal projects
authorizes private individuals to sue on behalf of the United States
country United States of America
surface form: United States
enactedIn American Civil War
enactmentDate 1863
enforcedBy United States Attorneys
United States Department of Justice
enforcedThrough civil litigation in federal courts
enforcementMechanism civil liability
historicalContext enacted to address fraud by Civil War military suppliers
influenced modern whistleblower reward statutes
state-level false claims acts
jurisdiction United States government
surface form: federal government of the United States
legalArea defense procurement fraud enforcement
government contracts law
health care fraud enforcement
penaltiesInclude civil monetary penalties per false claim
treble damages
policyGoal deter fraud against federal programs
encourage insiders to report fraud
protect the federal treasury from fraudulent claims
primaryPurpose combat fraud against the United States government
recover government funds obtained by fraud
provides financial incentives for whistleblowers
providesFor government intervention in qui tam suits
government right to decline intervention while allowing relator to proceed
qui tam actions
whistleblower lawsuits on behalf of the government
relatorDefinition private whistleblower bringing suit in the name of the United States
sponsoredBy administration of President Abraham Lincoln
targets false or fraudulent invoices to federal agencies
fraud in government contracts
fraud in government procurement
fraud in government programs
fraudulent claims for payment submitted to the United States government
term qui tam relator
whistleblowerReward percentage of funds recovered by the government

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

False Claims Amendments Act of 1986 amends False Claims Act of 1863