The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ or the Department) Civil Division recently announced the Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of Statistics (FOCUS) initiative, which is designed to allow the Division to prioritize the most promising False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam actions brought by data-miner whistleblowers. The announcement comes against the backdrop of last year’s record-shattering number of qui tam actions filed and signals DOJ’s growing need to separate the stronger cases from the weaker ones.
The Initiative
The FOCUS initiative operates within the broader framework of the FCA, one of the government’s most potent tools for combating fraud. The FCA imposes civil liability on any person who knowingly presents a false claim for payment of government funds or makes a false statement that is material to a claim for payment of government funds. The FCA also enables private whistleblowers (or “relators”) to file qui tam actions on behalf of the government and receive a share of any money recovered in the litigation. Under the qui tam provisions, a relator files a complaint under seal and serves DOJ. The Department then investigates the claims before ultimately determining whether to intervene and take over the case.
DOJ explained that the FOCUS initiative serves as a response to the marked increase in qui tam filings in recent years, many of which are generated not by traditional insider whistleblowers, but by so-called “data miners” – individuals or entities that...
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