ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Blowing the Whistle on Bank and Lending Fraud
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989
Reports of Bank Fraud May Entitle You To A Reward
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), 12 U.S.C. § 1833a et seq., and Financial Institutions Anti-Fraud Enforcement Act of 1990 (“FIAFEA”), 12 U.S.C. § 4201 et seq., offer rewards to whistleblowers with original information about certain illegal conduct by financial institutions and their employees. The whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent individuals in initiating enforcement actions under FIRREA and FIAFEA. If you have original information of bank fraud in California call our California FIRREA whistleblower attorneys today at (415)441-8669 and we can help. We can organize your information into a whistleblower application or declaration under the relevant rules with the goal of you receiving a reward for your efforts.
Settlement In Recent Case
A recent FIRREA whistleblower settlement announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) illustrates the kind of cases actionable under the statute.[1] In the case, a home security monitoring service provider has agreed to pay the United States $3.2 million to resolve allegations under FIRREA that its employees made false statements to secure financing for customers’ purchases of the company’s home monitoring products. The DOJ contended that, from 2017 to 2020, certain sales representatives for the company used their personal funds to cover the cost of initial financing payments on behalf of customers who sought financing to purchase the company’s products, while making false and misleading statements to the federally insured financial institution providing the financing that made it appear as if the borrowers had funded the initial payments. The case has settled for $3.2 million according to the DOJ. “Making false statements about the creditworthiness of borrowers undermines the integrity of our banking system and puts at risk the taxpayer dollars that help to support it,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will pursue those who fail to provide truthful information needed by federally insured financial institutions to make appropriate lending decisions.”
How FIRREA/FIAFEA Whistleblower Cases Begin
FIRREA cases begin with a declaration provided by an individual whistleblower to the DOJ. Our whistleblower litigators can help you prepare a compliant declaration following these steps to start a case:
- A confidential FIRREA whistleblower declaration, setting forth a specific set of facts about the alleged fraud, is submitted to the United States Attorney General’s Office. 12 U.S.C. §§ 4201(b) and 4202 (Contents of declarations). The declaration cannot be based on information that has been publicly disclosed, unless the declarant is the original source of that information. 12 U.S.C. § 4204.
- The declaration is sealed and confidential during the government’s investigation and in some cases a longer period of time. Within one year of the whistleblower’s declaration filing date, the Department of Justice must provide a written notice of the investigation’s status.
- If the declaration gives rise to FIRREA liability and the government obtains a recovery as a result, then the whistleblower is in line for an award. A FIAFEA whistleblower may receive a reward of 20 percent to 30 percent of the first $1,000,000 recovered, 10 percent to 20 percent of the next $4,000,000 recovered, and 5 percent to 10 percent of the next $5,000,000 recovered, up to a maximum of $1.6 million. 12 U.S.C. § 4205(d).
Contact Us
Ingrid M. Evans and the other whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm represent whistleblowers in FIRREA cases and in cases brought under the False Claims Act for false claims for government payments; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower cases for securities fraud (related to stocks, bonds, private placements and variable annuities for example); Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower cases for tax fraud, particularly offshore tax avoidance schemes; and Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) cases involving fraud in the trading of commodities, futures, options, currencies and virtual currencies (like Bitcoin). If you have information of fraud that could be the basis for any type of whistleblower case, call Ingrid today at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Government whistleblower programs protect you from employer retaliation for blowing the whistle on fraud and our attorneys can represent you in any case for retaliation or wrongful termination as well.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
