In the 2023 Fiscal Year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recovered over $2.3 billion in qui tam whistleblower cases, according to agency’s False Claims Act (FCA) statistics released today. The DOJ recovered a total of $2.68 billion from FCA settlements and judgments over the course of the year: meaning that whistleblower cases were responsible for more than 85% of the DOJ’s total FCA recoveries.

“The statistics once again show that whistleblowing works,” says leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto. “Whistleblowers are the government’s number one source of fraud detection.”

“Year after year, whistleblowers recover billions of dollars for taxpayers,” continued Kohn. “These whistleblowers come forward at grave risk to themselves and their livelihoods. It is high time that the DOJ fully supports whistleblowers.”

Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers with knowledge of government contracting fraud may file qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government. The DOJ then has the option to intervene and take over the lawsuit. If the DOJ declines to intervene, a whistleblower may continue to pursue the lawsuit.

Since the FCA’s qui tam provisions were modernized in 1986, whistleblowers have recovered over $52.7 billion.

In recent years, advocates have critiqued the DOJ for either failing to intervene in or dismissing strong whistleblower cases. Furthermore, for years the DOJ has failed to implement the confidential reporting requirements mandated under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.

Geoff Schweller also contributed to this article.