In 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained more than $5.6 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments — the largest amount since 2014 and the second largest amount recorded. This number is inflated by the massive $2.8 billion Purdue settlement related to its opioid promotion. But even after discounting the recovery amount by $2.8 billion, that leaves approximately $1.1 billion in non qui tam claims, far exceeding previous recovery amounts under the Trump administration. Moreover, while falling slightly below pre-pandemic levels, qui tam recoveries remained consistent with 2020 numbers. In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) whistleblower program announced a record-breaking year in terms of number of awards, dollars awarded, and number of whistleblower tips received.
The health sciences industry should take note: Both the DOJ and SEC are stepping up enforcement action, and there are several indications this trend will only continue.
First, as noted above, the number of non-qui-tam actions rose dramatically under the Biden administration. Recent statements from Biden administration officials confirm that the administration is committed to making it easier to prosecute wrongdoers and to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward.
In his March 3 remarks to the ABA Institute on White Collar Crime, Attorney General Merrick Garland affirmed that "prosecution of corporate crime is a Justice Department priority." This commitment is not...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...