Scripps Research Institute argues that it was only guilty of an “accounting discrepancy,” despite agreeing to pay a $10 million penalty to the Department of Justice to settle a recent FCA case involving federal grants. A former Scripps investigator alleged that the institute required them to “entirely cover the cost of their own salaries and related benefits through federal grants.” They also had to cover “the salary for the research staff through the awarded grants.” Because they usually had multiple grants, other duties such as teaching, and also had to spend time writing and submitting applications, it was “virtually impossible for a faculty member to legitimately charge 100 percent of his or her working hours to awarded grants,” the whistleblower claimed, saying this meant their grant reports were necessarily fraudulent.
