The U.S. General Services Administration has nailed tech company Oracle Corporation for allegedly violating the False Claims Act. The company will have to pay $199.5 million for failing to meet contractual obligations, apparently because it didn’t provide correct information about sales practices and discounts offered to customers. The figure is believed to be the largest settlement collected under the act.

Network World reports Oracle was accused of deceiving the GSA in 1998 about the depth of discounts it offered to commercial customers. The government says the company made it pay more for software than it could have.

The whistleblower — a former Oracle employee — who brought the case to the government’s attention must be smiling. He received $40 million of the settlement as his reward.

Oracle to pay US almost $200M to resolve false claims lawsuit [Network World via Slashdot]

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