U.S. Steps Up Accountability For Companies That Defraud the Government
In fiscal 2021, the Department of Justice obtained $5.6 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments—the second largest total in the law’s history.
Landwebs
The Justice Department is more aggressively targeting companies that have fraudulently billed government agencies, with less sympathy for pandemic-era concerns that penalties could drive health-care providers and other employers out of business, and a greater reliance on advanced data analysis and novel legal theories when pursuing False Claims Act (FCA) cases, reports Bloomberg News. The push follows a significant uptick in the number of active FCA investigations, the level of resources the government is putting into them, the number of agents that are working them, and the level of teamwork and coordination between US attorneys and Main Justice.
In fiscal 2021, DOJ obtained $5.6 billion in FCA settlements and judgments—the second largest total in the law’s history. In addition, Attorney General Merrick Garland rescinded a memo that had prevented FCA enforcers from citing subregulatory guidance, or agency interpretations of rules and statutes that never received public input, arming DOJ attorneys with a larger pool of potential arguments to prove false claims were submitted.
