IBM, a leading corporate computing company and one of the most storied names in American business, has agreed to pay the U.S. government $17 million to settle Justice Department allegations that the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies violated antidiscrimination laws.
The Justice Department touted the settlement as a major win for the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI policies, saying it is the first successful use of the False Claims Act under the department’s new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative. Under that act, federal officials investigated whether IBM lied on federal forms to receive government contracts when it certified that the company was in compliance with antidiscrimination laws.
IBM did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The resolution is the latest in a string of announcements that the Justice Department has rolled out that align closely with President Donald Trump’s agenda since the president ousted Pam Bondi as attorney general earlier this month. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has been tapped to at least temporarily lead the department, and Trump has signaled he wants him to carry out his political agenda more aggressively than Bondi did.
Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward — the third-ranking official at the Justice Department, whose job includes overseeing civil cases — announced the resolution with IBM last week.
Amid reports in right-wing media that Woodward had been pushed out of the...
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