April 26, 1999

Freedom of Information Act Officer
Civil Division - Civil Litigation Branch
United States Department of Justice
901 E. Street, N.W., Suite 808
Washington, D.C. 20004

Re: Freedom of Information Act Request

Dear sirs:

        This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
        I request that a copy of the following documents [or documents containing the following information] be provided to me within the time frame dictated by law:

A.MEMORANDUM(S) FOR FILE.

        All "Memorandum(s) For File" (or any other similar documents under any other names or descriptions), issued by any DOJ party (the Attorney General, an Assistant Attorney General, etc.), granting or denying DOJ departmental, AUSA, or Governmental authority for the Government (DOJ in any form): (1) to intervene in any qui tam or fraud lawsuit (as a result of an alleged violation of the False Claims Act or other similar law), and (2) to accept any qui tam proceeds (including any cash payments, alternate remedy of specific performance, forfeiture or other thing of value or other valuable considerations) in full or partial settlement of any kind or type of qui tam lawsuit.
        Specifically, there should be at least one document of this type for every False Claims Act lawsuit filed by a relator and / or investigated, negotiated, and / or settled by the DOJ. Copies are most likely located in an outgoing file retained by the officer titled and authorized to give such approvals and in the litigation files of each suit. If the document is not available because any case was sealed by a request to any court, please identify the Court, the Court's location, the case number and the Plaintiff or qui tam relator.
        FIGURE 1, below, is a true copy of one of these documents and is included so that there can be no misunderstanding about what is being requested. At minimum, the delivered documents should include the citation of the lawsuit, the name or names of the defendants, the generic or specific identification of the proceeds, the date issued, the DOJ "File No.", and the name of the party approving it.

FIGURE 1

B.DOJ PRESS RELEASES.

        A copy of each and every DOJ Press Release, issued since January of 1990, announcing the results of any qui tam lawsuit filed or settled by any qui tam relator.

C.ANNUAL REPORT OF QUI TAM PROCEEDS.

        Each and every report or all reports, from 1990 until the present date, issued to Congress by the DOJ, which are required by Congress, and / or the False Claims Act, or any Senate or House of Representative reports or Bills, and identify what the DOJ claims to have recovered as qui tam proceeds in accordance with any and all of the False Claims Act lawsuits identified in A. above. There should be at least one report for each year from 1990 until this date.

D.NON QUI TAM PAYMENTS.

        A copy of all pertinent information about all payments made in accordance with the provisions of the False Claims Act in return for information provided describing or identifying any fraud not the subject of a qui tam lawsuit. This should identify the party supplying the information to the Government, or to the DOJ in particular, the subject matter involved, the date of settlement, the date of payment to the informant, the amount of the payment, and any approval memo issued (equivalent to or similar to those described in section A above).

        In order to help to determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am an individual seeking information for personal use and for dissemination to the general public and not for commercial use.
        I request a waiver of all fees. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in my commercial interest. Every citizen that has paid even one dollar in federal taxes or that may be placed in a position to identify fraud, past or present, has a interest in and a right to know the DOJ success rate and how they handle the settlement of cases (including both the policy and procedures in place and the actual actions of the DOJ to impliment same) that are the results of a court's decision or a negotiated settlement.
        If you make an initial determination that I do not qualify for an exemption to the fees, I am willing to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $100.00. If you estimate that the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me of the estimated cost first.
        Thank you for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Ballew
3101 Softwind Trail
Fort Worth, Texas 76116-4730
(817) 244-3647