On February 7, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that settlements and judgements under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) exceeded $2 billion for the 2022 fiscal year. The 2022 fiscal year also had the second-highest number of settlements and judgments for any given year in FCA history.
This news reflects the increasingly firm stance the U.S. government has taken on cases involving fraud against the government. Notably, President Biden’s most recent State of the Union Address was heavy with themes of holding businesses accountable for fraudulent or exploitive behavior.1 The FCA serves as an avenue for the government to carry out these broad goals. As stated by Deputy Attorney General Brian Boynton in the DOJ’s announcement, “the False Claims Act remains one of the most important tools for ensuring public funds are spent properly and advance public interest.”
Against this backdrop, we can expect increasingly robust use of the FCA to impose liability on businesses and individuals that falsely claim government funds or knowingly withhold payments to the government. In addition, recent FCA cases also indicate an upward trend in the application of the FCA to cases involving U.S. trade law. Specifically, FCA cases involving customs violations are becoming more and more common. In addition, there has also been an uptick in recent years of cases involving violations of U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions. This article will provide a brief overview of...
stage at the Ninth Circuit, where pharmaceutical companies say a momentous new ruling "illustrates perfectly" the constitutional concerns of U. S. Supreme Court justices regarding FCA enforcement. ...