The Independent Calls DOJ Tip Rewards a ‘Snitch’ Plan That ‘Backfires’

The Justice Department announced Tuesday the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, which it calls the first whistleblower rewards program to pay an up-front award for tips that lead to criminal charges. The department's release says it will pay $10,000 to $30,000 for information leading to charges in certain subject areas. The Independent covered the same announcement under the headline “DOJ’s snitch-for-Trump plan hilariously backfires almost immediately.”

The department's own account is plain. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald issued a directive on October 1 telling the National Fraud Enforcement Division to design programs that reward whistleblowers who bring credible fraud information. Nineteen days later the division announced the program, which it says fills a gap: most government whistleblower programs pay only after a case is fully resolved, including forfeiture and appeals, while this one pays once charges are filed. Tipsters stay eligible for larger awards if their information later leads to big penalties or forfeitures, and the department says awards are made at its sole discretion.

The release lists what the program covers. It takes tips on federal health care offenses and on fraud against programs run by the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of War and the Small Business Administration. On health care, the department says it will prioritize hospice, home health care, day care and special services fraud. The department says the program supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President Vance.

The Independent's story confirms the $10,000 to $30,000 award range and says the program is part of Vice President Vance's fraud initiative. The backfire it describes is a social media pile-on. The paper reports that critics bombarded the administration with tips that mockingly accused the president of fraud. It also reports that President Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, said a whistleblower could be awarded one percent of whatever the government recovers, and that the paper's White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, pushed back by citing the False Claims Act, under which whistleblowers can collect 10 to 25 percent of recovered funds. The Independent says the president snapped at Feinberg and asked whether he was a sick person.

Nothing in the Independent's story reports a problem with the program itself: no tip that failed, no payment that went wrong, no charge that collapsed. The release describes who can get paid, how much and when. The headline describes posts from people who dislike the president. Readers who want to know what the program does will find it in the department's terms and conditions, not in the pile-on.