G.L. c. 12 §§ 5A – 5O. A state statute modeled on the Federal False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733). The Massachusetts statute allows the Attorney General or private persons, statutorily called “relators”, but informally referred to as “whistleblowers”, to file actions on behalf of the government against persons and companies who allegedly have committed fraud involving state programs or contracts. If the suit is successful, the relators can receive between 25 and 30 percent of any recovered damages. In 2013, under the Federal Act, relators were paid more than $387 million as awards for bringing whistle-blowing suits resulting in fraud recoveries for the Federal government.
