Whistleblower Law
PRF Law’s Whistleblower Practice represents people who help to expose fraud and other wrongdoing, as well as individuals who suffer retaliation for making complaints to the government or within their workplaces about illegality.
The federal False Claims Act gives private citizens the right to sue companies or other people who have defrauded the federal government and win damages on behalf of the government. Whistleblowers who bring successful cases can receive up to 30% of what the government recovers. Some states have similar “qui tam laws” that allow private citizens to challenge companies that defraud state governments.
The federal Dodd-Frank Act gives private citizens the right to recover awards when they report corporate fraud in financial markets, including violations of the Securities laws.
Federal and state laws prohibit retaliation against whistleblowers and some laws make it illegal for employers to terminate or take other actions in retaliation for an employee reporting what they reasonably believe to be illegal conduct to the government or making such a report within a company.
The Whistleblower Claims We Enforce:
PRF Law enforces the rights of whistleblowers, including the following types of claims:
A whistleblower reporting that a government contractor has made false claims to the federal or state government about the standards it will implement.
A whistleblower reporting to a government agency that their employer is violating federal, state, or local law.
A whistleblower reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission that a company is engaging in Securities violations or other types of financial fraud.
A whistleblower reporting to the government that a company is underpaying its taxes.
A whistleblower who is fired by their employer for making an internal report or a report to a government agency about illegal conduct.
Making an Impact
In Podliska v. House Benghazi Committee and Rep. Trey Gowdy, No. 15 Civ. 2037 (D.D.C.), Peter filed a lawsuit on behalf of Major Bradley Podliska, a whistleblower who alleged that he had been fired by the House Benghazi Committee for refusing to focus his investigation on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Committee’s probe and due to his military service. In the weeks before former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House Benghazi Committee in 2015, the lawsuit raised a concern that the Benghazi Committee had not neutrally investigated the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, but instead had unduly focused on Secretary Clinton and the State Department. The case settled in 2016, and the Washington Post later reported that “Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) used $150,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle with a former aide who alleged he was fired in part because he was not willing to focus his investigative work on Hillary Clinton.”
