Public Law 111-21, Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA)

Public Law 111-21, Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA), 20 May 2009, 15 pp.: sec. 2 widens federal fraud crimes (mortgage lending businesses, TARP and stimulus funds, commodities fraud, money-laundering proceeds); sec. 3 authorises extra appropriations against fraud for FY2010-2011 ($165 million a year for DOJ, of which $15 million for the Civil Division; $30 million each for the Postal Inspection Service and HUD OIG; $20 million each for the Secret Service and SEC enforcement; $1 million for SEC OIG) — general enforcement budgets, not money for whistleblower rewards, so not recorded; sec. 4 amends the False Claims Act (liability rewritten, civil penalty $5,000-$10,000 plus treble damages, government complaints relate back to the relator's, civil investigative demands may be delegated and shared with qui tam relators, anti-retaliation relief for employees, contractors and agents including two times back pay, seal does not prevent serving state co-plaintiffs; effective dates incl. retroactivity to 7 June 2008); sec. 5 creates the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (out of scope). No change to relator award percentages, so no rule rows. Added one event for sec. 4 from this source (an event for FERA existed only from the CRS report).