What is a reverse false claim?
Another of the changes instituted by the 1986 amendments was to make illegal so-called reverse false claims. In a reverse false claims case, the government is cheated not because it paid money to a contractor who submitted a false claim for payment, but rather because a defendant made, used, or caused to be made or used a false document to conceal or decrease an obligation to pay money to the United States. For example, in some well-known cases, various major oil companies under-reported the value of oil and gas pumped out of United States-owned land pursuant to lease agreements. The under-reporting permitted the oil companies to pay lower royalties than what was actually owed to the United States.
