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What day is National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day celebrated? June 26

What is National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA)Fraud Day? National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day brings awareness to the amount of fraud against the government and teaches the public how to obtain a monetary reward for reporting it.

Ten percent of all government spending is lost due to fraud. Because the Department of Defense is spending over $500 billion a year, that means $50 billion a year is lost to fraud. It’s no wonder why we have a national economy crisis!

That’s why Congress authorized the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pay whistleblower rewards up to 30 percent of the amount it recovers based upon whistleblowers reporting fraud by any government contractor under any program, such as the military, DOD, Homeland Security, and Medicare.

Statistics for the DOJ whistleblower reward program

  • The largest whistleblower reward in a single case is $50 million
  • The average whistleblower reward is $349,468
  • DOJ has recovered $3 billion ($3,231,690,672) in military fraud cases brought by whistleblowers
  • DOJ has paid whistleblowers rewards of $550 million ($549,364,943)

Who created National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day? National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day started in 2018. It was formed by Joel Hesch, a whistleblower attorney who spent over 15 years working in Department of Justice whistleblower reward office. While at DOJ, Mr. Hesch obtained over $1.2 billion in recoveries back for the government from those cheating the government and paid out hundred of millions in rewards to whistleblowers. Mr. Hesch formed his own law firm and now exclusively represents whistleblowers nationwide in filing for rewards for reporting fraud against the government, including Trade Agreement Act (TAA) fraud.

According to Mr. Hesch, “I formed National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day to help whistleblowers properly report fraud against the government and get a reward in the process. I also want to educate the public on properly reporting TAA fraud. While at DOJ, I’ve seen whistleblowers make a lot of mistakes. Unless they properly report it, there’s no guarantee an investigation will take place. Worse yet, if they don’t scrupulously follow the formula, they won’t receive a reward. I want to change all of that.”

What is Trade Agreement Act (TAA) fraud?

Companies with direct federal contracts are prohibited from using goods or supplies imported products from countries, such as China, India, Malaysia, and Taiwan, because they don’t have reciprocal trade agreements with the United States. Thus, it is a violation for federal government contractors to sell goods or supplies that were made in countries that are not part of the Trade Agreement Act (TAA). A whistleblower can receive a significant reward for reporting a company selling goods or supplies to the federal government that are made in countries such as China, or Taiwan as prohibited by the Trade Agreement Act (TAA).

What is Buy American Act fraud?

Many government contracts also contain Buy America Act clauses that prohibit supplying goods from any country. Whistleblowers can also receive a significant reward for reporting a company selling goods or supplies to the federal government if the contract contains a Buy America Act Clause.

What is GSA fraud?

The General Service Administration (GSA) also has a program and website allowing federal agencies to buy products directly from pre-approved vendors. The GSA or other agencies often require a contractor or supplier to provide the government with the best price it charges to other customers, known as GSA best price fraud. This obligation even requires companies to tell the GSA if it later gives a discount to another company at a lower than the price the GSA paid. Because this fraud is hard to detect by GSA, the government is paying sizable rewards for reporting GSA Best Price Fraud. For more details about GSA fraud, visit this link.

Free e-books addressing Trade Agreement Act (TAA) or military fraud

To help whistleblowers properly report fraud against the government, including the military, Mr. Hesch wrote a free e-book. The free e-book addresses fraud against the military. The free e-book also contain his personal contact information so that you can ask Mr. Hesch incomplete confidence to review your potential reward case. Mr. Hesch also has a website that explains what steps are necessary to be eligible for a whistleblower reward.

How to celebrate National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA)Fraud Day? Celebrate National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day by downloading his free e-book so you understand the various fraud schemes and the Department of Justice (DOJ) whistleblower reward program. The e-books explains the benefits and risks of reporting fraud and the various ways you can report fraud. If you have the right type of information, you can and should report government contractor fraud as outlined in the e-book and in the next section.

You can also celebrate National Report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Fraud Day by sharing this day and web page with everyone you know so that the whole world can participate in stamping out fraud against the government. Only when fraud doers know that the public knows how to spot fraud and can get a reward for reporting it will they think twice about ripping off our military or other government programs.

How to report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) fraud and received a monetary reward? There are two very different ways of reporting TAA fraud (or other types of fraud against the government), with two very different results.

  1. File for a Reward under the DOJ Whistleblower Reward Program

The first way to report Trade Agreement Act (TAA) fraud is to have a whistleblower attorney, such as Mr. Hesch, help you blow the whistle under the Department of Justice (DOJ) reward program, which pays whistleblower rewards of between 15% to 30% of the amount DOJ recovers.

If you report TAA fraud under the DOJ program, the government must open an investigation and inform your attorney of the results. Thus, applying for a reward through a whistleblower attorney is the only way to ensure an investigation takes place (rather than just calling an agency hotline). Today, over three-fourths of the government’s fraud cases are DOJ whistleblower reward cases. Thus, the government is counting on whistleblowers to bring fraud cases to DOJ and receive a reward in the process.

  1. Report fraud to the affected agency, i.e. the Department of Defense

The second way to report government contractor fraud is to report it directly to the affected agency, such as the Department of Defense (DOD).

Report Fraud directly to the DOD

Here’s how to report fraud directly to the DOD.

First, you can call a DOD hotline at (800) 424-9098.

Second, you can fill out a form on the DOD website, known as a Hotline Complaint. That web page describes what you can report and what not to report using the Hotline Complaint form. It also allows you to report the fraud anonymously. 

There are a few downsides by reporting the fraud to the DOD or specific military agency and not by filing for a reward with the Department of Justice. First, there is no reward. Second, the agency does not have to open an investigation. Third, the agency does not have to tell you the results of any investigation. Nevertheless, there are times when it makes sense to report fraud directly to the agency through its website or by calling its hotline.

What other national days are there for whistleblowing or whistleblower rewards for reporting fraud? There are many other national days relating to reporting fraud against the government. Here are just a few:

National Report IRS Fraud Day                                                                     April 10

National Report Medicare Fraud Day                                                           September 12

National Whistleblower Reward Day                                                            February 20

National Day Archives also has a separate category just for Politics/Government. For more days relating to the Politics/Government browse the category button on the top left of the webpage.