Whistleblower Joseph Thomas, a former Duke University lab employee, will receive nearly $34 million after Duke on Monday settled his False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that another lab technician faked research data to obtain funding from federal agencies.

Thomas was aided by his brother, John Thomas Jr., a Virginia whistleblower lawyer whose law firm at the time, Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, brought the suit. The lawyer, currently with Virginia firm Healy Hafemann Magee & Thomas, remained on board and was joined by Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in North Carolina.