UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

United States Treasury Department ) 

ex reI J. Trent Mosby, ) 

Plaintiff, 

FILED 

FEB 2 a 2009 

NANCYMAv rERWH/TT. 

u.s. DISTRIIJT ~J~~' CLERK 

v. 

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Civil Action No. 09 U352 

Duke Terrell et ai., 

Defendants. 

MEMORANDUM OPINION 

This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs pro se complaint and application to proceed 

in forma pauperis. The Court will grant the application and will dismiss the complaint for lack 

of subject matter jurisdiction. I 

Plaintiff is a prisoner at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, suing under 

the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq. He alleges that Bureau of Prisons 

Director Harley Lappin and BOP official Duke Terrell have stolen from the Crime Victims Fund 

by allegedly lying about the amounts deposited to the Fund under 18 U.S.C. § 4048(g), governing 

the allocation of monies generated from fees prisoners pay for health care services. 

The FCA authorizes private persons to bring actions in the name of the Government 

against persons who have violated § 3729 by either filing a false claim or having defrauded the 

Government with respect to claims or Government property in certain other ways. See 31 U.S.C. 

§ 3730(b). But "[n]o court shall have jurisdiction over an action under this section based upon 

the public disclosure of ... transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a 

congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or 

I "If the court determines at any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, [it] must 

dismiss the action." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). 
investigation, or from the news media, unless the ... the person bringing the action is an original 

source of the information." § 3730(e)(4)(A). "'[O]riginal source' means an individual who has 

direct and independent knowledge of the information on which the allegations are based and has 

voluntarily provided the information to the Government before filing an action under this section 

which is based on the information." § 3730(e)(4)(B). The original source's knowledge must be 

"firsthand." Us. ex reI. Davis v. District of Columbia, _ F. Supp.2d. _ , 2008 WL 5332817 

* 3 (D.D.C., Dec. 23,2008). 

Plaintiffs claim is based on annual reports the BOP Director is required to provide 

Congress under 18 U.S.C. § 4048(k) that he obtained through the Freedom oflnformation Act. 

CompI. at 4. Because plaintiff has alleged no first-hand knowledge about the preparation of the 

reports, he cannot possibly qualify as an original source. See Rockwell Intern. Corp. v. Us., 594 

U.S. 457, 127 S.Ct. 1397, 1405 (2007); Us. ex rei. Davis, 2008 WL 5332817 * 3 ("Knowledge 

is 'direct' ifit is acquired through the relator's own efforts (i.e., without an intervening agency) .. 

. . Knowledge is 'independent' if the relator would have had it absent the public disclosure.") 

(quoting United States ex rei. Springfield Terminal Rwy. Co. v. Quinn, 14 F.3d 645, 656 (D.C. 

Cir. 1994)). Thus, the Court lacks jurisdiction over this action, which, in any event, cannot be 

prosecuted pro se. See Us. ex rei. Lu v. Ou, 368 F.3d 773, 775 (7th Cir. 2004) ("[T]he same 

policy that forbids litigants ... to be represented by nonlawyers ... is applicable to qui tam suits." 

(citation omitted); accord Us. ex rei. Fisher v. Network Software Associates, Inc., 377 F. 

Supp.2d 195 (D.D.C. 2005); Us. ex rei. Rockefeller v. Westinghouse Electric Co., 274 F. 

Supp.2d 10 (D.D.C. 2003). Accordingly, the complaint will be dismissed. A separate Order 

accompanies this Memorandum Opinion. 

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Date: January ff, 2009 

United States D~ riet JU;g~--t14 

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