SPACs remain on everyone’s mind, especially the country’s chief regulator. On May 26, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on “key capital market trends” that will impact SEC resources in the coming years. And the very first topic he
Professional Relators Under False Claims Act Find No Friends in Federal Government or Seventh Circuit
Qui tam cases in American jurisprudence rely on a simple premise: help prevent nefarious actors from defrauding the government and Uncle Sam will compensate you for your efforts. With its roots in English law, the American version was adopted during the Civil War in light of alleged fraud by federal contractors skirting the proper procurement process. Our American cousin to this English theory was colloquially known as “Lincoln’s Law,” better known today as the False Claims Act (the “FCA”). The FCA permits private parties or “relators” to relate the matter to the Court by suing on behalf of the federal government against any contractor who issued to the government “a false or fraudulent claim of payment or approval.” 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(1)(A). Should the government choose to intervene, the relator could see a payday ranging from 15 and 30 percent of the penalty collected in that action.
For The First Circuit, Transaction Costs in Structured Settlements are Not Fraud
Liability insurers charge premiums in exchange for an agreement to cover certain claims against their policyholders. When settling a tort claim against a policyholder, the insurance company can pay a lump-sum of cash or, in some cases, will enter into a “structured settlement” with the claimant. Here, the insurance company purchases an annuity (or a stream of payments over a set period of time) from, for example, a life insurance company, under which the beneficiary/claimant will receive these payments to settle the claim. However, the process of buying an annuity generates certain transaction costs in the form of a broker’s commission payable by the liability insurer to the life insurance agent. If the liability insurer were to purchase a stream of payments for the amount owed to the claimant but the claimant received less than the insurer paid, what should we call the missing funds: fraud or the price of doing business?