Sarah Feinberg just won $70 million dollars.
She didn’t enter a contest or buy a lottery ticket on the way home from work. Instead, in 2016, Feinberg resigned from her position at defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, hired a lawyer, and filed a lawsuit against her former employer. She had discovered that her employer was defrauding the US government and, after trying to address the problem internally for nine months, Feinberg decided it was time for a different approach.
The Department of Justice just settled with Booz Allen Hamilton for $377.45 million—one of the government’s largest procurement settlements to date. Feinberg received $69.8 million of that amount. The whistleblower is just as surprised as anyone.
“I’ve got three kids who are ages 8 to 12, and they’ve seen me going through it,” Feinberg told CT in a recent interview. “Just having them see this, one of the things I want to be really clear about is that when you do the right thing, usually what happens is we see our reward in heaven and not here.”
Feinberg says that she intends to keep her job at Atlantic Media for National Journal. Her husband, former congressional candidate Evan Feinberg, will continue to run the anti-poverty nonprofit the Stand Together Foundation. Their children are still attending public school.
“The things I’ve really come to care about over time are justice and truth,” says Feinberg. “My involvement in media is really addressing the truth aspect of that. I’m asking, What are areas that I can further justice in my community?”
Whether in our words or actions, may we ask the same question. And may we trust that any reward we receive on earth is a fraction of what God has in store for us in eternity.
