We represent victims of reverse discrimination and anti-DEI whistleblowers

Even though we’re approximately six years beyond the first time most Americans heard of the COVID-19 virus, the ripple effects of the pandemic are still being felt. Of course, the coronavirus took a terrible human toll. More than 1,000,000 deaths in the United States were traced to COVID-19. The pandemic and resulting lockdowns also sent shockwaves through the economy, leading Congress to adopt emergency measures designed to help keep families and businesses afloat.

One of the most prominent initiatives to relieve the financial pressure was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Under the PPP, businesses could obtain a loan that would enable to them to keep paying their workers during the crisis. If certain conditions were met, the loan would then be forgiven. Given the scope of the pandemic, the response to the PPP was enormous, which led some fraudulent activity to slip through the cracks, at least temporarily.

A branch manager at a KeyBank in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania allegedly got some local business owners to provide incorrect information to the government on their PPP applications. By overstating their payroll and employee count, the companies received larger, ultimately forgiven loans, than they would have had they submitted accurate figures. 

Government authorities discovered the fraud and brought a False Claims Act (FCA) case against KeyCorp, which was ultimately settled for $7.7 million. It is unclear what exactly led the government to investigate the KeyBank scheme, but many FCA proceedings start when a worker sees something wrong and decides to report what they’ve learned. Whistleblowers play an especially important role when it is impossible for regulatory authorities to supervise every transaction closely.

Honesty and the knowledge that you’ve helped save taxpayer funds can be their own rewards. However the FCA includes language that gives whistleblowers the chance to obtain a share of the amount taken by the government. The typical award to a whistleblower in a qui tam case is between 15 and 30 percent of the total. That means a whistleblower could collect $1 million or more when the settlement is equivalent to the one paid by KeyCorp.

Kardell Law Group battles on behalf of diligent whistleblowers in FCA cases. Please call or contact us online to discuss your particular situation.