Qui tam
Definition
A lawsuit brought by a private whistleblower under the False Claims Act on behalf of the federal government, alleging fraud against government programs. If the case succeeds, the whistleblower, called a relator, can receive 15 to 30 percent of whatever the government recovers.
Why it matters
Qui tam lets private citizens with inside knowledge, often employees, trigger fraud enforcement that understaffed federal agencies would otherwise miss, particularly against government contractors and healthcare providers. It has become the primary engine of False Claims Act recoveries, aligning a whistleblower's financial incentive with the public interest in exposing fraud.
Seen in the wild
A record 979 qui tam suits were filed in fiscal year 2024, and qui tam cases accounted for over 82 percent of the government's $2.9 billion in False Claims Act recoveries that year, per the Department of Justice. In September 2024, a former Walgreens district pharmacy supervisor's qui tam suit led to a $106.8 million settlement over billing for prescriptions never provided, earning the whistleblower a $1.62 million share.1