FCA

Over the last few weeks, the Department of Justice announced nearly $25 million in False Claims Act settlements, with whistleblowers receiving at least $2.8 million in awards. It settled with: The University of San Francisco for roughly $2.5 million, for allegedly falsifying over 1,500 time-sheets of USF students who served as teaching apprentices in high-needs […]

K&L Gates analyzes the DOJ’s recent update to its compliance program evaluation guidance, noting that it emphasizes (1) the need to adequately resource and empower the compliance function; (2) the importance of data access and data analysis in monitoring program effectiveness; and (3) the need to foster a culture of compliance not only among senior […]

DOJ’s updated guidance on how it will evaluate corporate compliance programs emphasizes the need for a tailored program that continuously adapts and evolves based on individual risk factors and requires updating based on lessons learned by the company, as well as the marketplace. Toward that end, it emphasizes three questions: Is the corporation’s compliance program […]

On June 1, DOJ issued an updated version of its “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs,” which outlines specific factors that its prosecutors should consider when assessing corporate compliance programs, making charging decisions, and negotiating dispositions. The update offers additional insights into its approach to evaluating corporate compliance programs. The update places emphasis on compliance programs […]

The district court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss a qui tam case as untimely, finding the relator was not entitled to equitable tolling...

Whistleblowers are a common character in investigations into governmental abuse.  They famously have exposed covert government surveillance programs, political corruption scandals, and even led to the impeachment of the president of the United States.  Some statutes also empower whistleblowers to bring claims against private businesses on behalf of the government for financial misconduct involving fraud, […]

This week marks the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark False Claims Act decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. Escobar, 136 S....

The district court denied the defendants’ motion to stay proceedings and for certification of an interlocutory appeal, finding the defendants failed to raise any controlling issue of law, but merely disagreed with the court’s prior ruling on summary judgment. While the defendants questioned whether medical disagreements could form the basis for an FCA claim and […]

With the Department of Justice’s decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn, materiality has come to the forefront of popular legal discourse. At the same time, prosecutors and whistleblowers will carefully consider enforcement/false claims actions against entities who may have wrongfully received relief funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Stability Act.  Such actions […]

The Second Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court’s dismissal of a qui tam suit alleging the defendants failed to report to the government...