Cite as: 538 U. S. 119 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
§ 3729(a).1 The relator's share of the "proceeds of the action or settlement" may be up to 30 percent, depending on whether the Government intervened and, if so, how much the relator contributed to the prosecution of the claim. § 3730(d).2 The relator may also get reasonable expenses, costs, and attorney's fees. Ibid.
The fraud in this case allegedly occurred in administering a $5 million grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to Cook County Hospital, owned and operated as the name implies, with the object of studying a treatment regimen for pregnant drug addicts. The grant was subject to a variety of conditions, including the terms of a compliance plan meant to assure that the study would jibe with federal regulations for research on human subjects. Administration of the study was later transferred to the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research, a nonprofit research organization affiliated with the hospital. Respondent, Dr. Janet Chandler, ran the study from September 1993 until the institute fired her in January 1995.
1 The statutory penalties are adjusted upward for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-410, § 5, 104 Stat. 891, note following 28 U. S. C. § 2461. The penalty is currently $5,500 to $11,000. 28 CFR § 85.3(a)(9) (2002).
2 If the Government does not intervene, the relator is entitled to 25 to 30 percent of the proceeds. 31 U. S. C. § 3730(d)(2). If the Government chooses to intervene, the relator "shall . . . receive at least 15 percent but not more than 25 percent of the proceeds of the action or settlement of the claim, depending upon the extent to which the person substantially contributed to the prosecution of the action." § 3730(d)(1). If, however, the court determines that the action was "based primarily on disclosures of specific information (other than information provided by the person bringing the action) relating to allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the news media, the court may award such sums as it considers appropriate, but in no case more than 10 percent of the proceeds . . . ." Ibid. (footnote omitted).
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