On Monday, September 23, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ), released an update to its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP) guidance. The ECCP guidance was last revised in March 2023, which brought a number of significant changes, including a focus on compensation and incentive structures (e.g., clawbacks), and third party messaging applications. This 2024 update, while not as significant in scope as its predecessor, nonetheless highlights the DOJ’s focus on new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), as part of its evolving assessment of what makes a corporate compliance program truly effective, and how prosecutors should evaluate risk assessments and other management tools at the time of a corporate resolution.Continue Reading Putting the “AI” in Compliance—DOJ Updates its Corporate Compliance Program Guidance to Address Emerging AI Risks and Leveraging Data
The Global Investigations Review Guide to Compliance
As the primary civil enforcement statute for investigating and remedying fraud in connection with United States government programs, the False Claims Act (FCA) has resulted in more than $75 billion in recoveries of government funds since 1986. The FCA imposes liability on any person or entity that knowingly submits false claims or certifications to the
“Help Wanted”: Justice Department Debuts its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program
On August 1, 2024, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco unveiled the Department of Justice’s new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program. The announcement marks the conclusion of the Department’s previously announced “sprint” towards a pilot program, as DAG Lisa Monaco first previewed back in March of this year. Continue Reading “Help Wanted”: Justice Department Debuts its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program
DOJ Offers Cash “Carrot” to Whistleblowers; Foreshadows “Stick” of More Corporate Enforcement
On March 7, 2024, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco delivered remarks at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime announcing a new Department of Justice (DOJ) pilot program that incentivizes whistleblowers to report corporate misconduct by offering monetary rewards. Likening the program to “the days of ‘Wanted’ posters across the Old West,” DAG Monaco explained that individuals who help DOJ discover otherwise unknown, “significant” corporate or financial crime could receive a portion of the resulting forfeiture. This program will encourage whistleblowers to report a broad range of criminal activity by bridging the divide between DOJ’s priorities and other whistleblower mechanisms such as the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision (which is only available for fraud against the government), and programs at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and other federal agencies (which only cover misconduct within their respective jurisdictions). By placing a bounty on corporate actors, this DOJ pilot program—which will be developed by the Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS)—underscores the need for companies to take stock of their compliance programs and enhance their internal reporting infrastructure. Continue Reading DOJ Offers Cash “Carrot” to Whistleblowers; Foreshadows “Stick” of More Corporate Enforcement
He’s a Material Guy in a Material World: Senator Grassley Proposes FCA Amendments to Weaken Materiality Defense Where Government Pays Despite Knowledge of Non-Compliance
The continual push and pull between the courts and Congress over the contours of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) has once again spawned proposed legislation unfavorable to FCA defendants, this time poised to curtail defense arguments that continued government payment of claims in the face of alleged noncompliance with contractual or other legal requirements demonstrates a lack of materiality.
On July 25, 2023, a bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation entitled the “False Claims Act Amendments of 2023.” Spearheaded by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the principal author of the 1986 FCA amendments, the bill purportedly attempts to close certain FCA defense “loopholes” left open by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 579 U.S. 176 (2016) (“Escobar”). Senator Grassley has been an outspoken critic of more recent FCA judicial developments, which he deems a gradual curbing of the power of the “single greatest tool in the fight against fraud.” These newest proposed amendments are another example of Grassley’s advocacy for stronger and more rigid fraud enforcement than courts have been willing to impose based on the text of the FCA. Continue Reading He’s a Material Guy in a Material World: Senator Grassley Proposes FCA Amendments to Weaken Materiality Defense Where Government Pays Despite Knowledge of Non-Compliance
Lincoln’s Law Turns 160
March 2, 2023, marked the 160-year anniversary of the enactment of the False Claims Act (FCA). Signed into law by the sixteenth president, the statute known as “Mr. Lincoln’s Law” was passed in response to the actions of contractors that sold rancid food, faulty rifles, and shoddy uniforms to the Union Army. Eight score after the law’s passage, the FCA has become the government’s primary enforcement tool in cases involving allegations of fraud, and today the Civil War era statute is applied in cases involving industries and federal programs that would have exceeded Lincoln’s wildest imagination. Continue Reading Lincoln’s Law Turns 160
Crowell & Moring Survey Finds Companies Are Setting Environmental Goals, But Questions of Measurement Persist
Government Contractors who are concerned with how their companies are navigating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts will want to read a new report by Crowell & Moring. A recent survey of top decision-makers by Crowell & Moring finds that nearly 80% of responding companies have identified and adopted environmental performance goals beyond what regulations
A focus on multinationals: Whistleblower incentives on the international stage
2020 was one of the first years in memory when many multinationals saw a reduction in the number of internal whistleblower complaints, and a sharp increase in the number of external whistleblower complaints. In this environment, several countries around the world are finding ways to incentivize external whistleblower complaints, including—following the United States’ lead—providing bounties
How Vast Government Aid and Imaginative Enforcement Could Mean FCA Liability for a Growing Breadth of Industries
Over the past few years, both the government and False Claims Act relators (whistleblowers) have targeted more types of defendants than they have ever previously. Against this backdrop, Congress passed two of the largest relief bills in modern history and thus even more companies find themselves involved with the federal government in a new way
“You Have to Come Down with a Sledgehammer, Not a Toothpick!” – Senator Grassley Previews Potential Amendments to Increase False Claims Act Enforcement and Recoveries
Yesterday, February 17, 2021, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, Brian Boynton, highlighted the central role that the False Claims Act (FCA) has held and will continue to play in the government’s civil fraud enforcement toolkit for years to come. In prepared remarks at the Federal Bar Association’s 2021 Qui Tam Conference, Grassley confirmed that he is drafting legislation intended to curb what he called the government’s incorrect interpretation that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has unfettered authority to dismiss qui tam lawsuits brought by relators. In an apparent reference to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016), Senator Grassley also asserted that the courts have weakened the statute by dismissing cases based on a misapplication of the FCA’s materiality requirement, another area that he suggested was ripe for Congressional intervention. In separate remarks, Boynton highlighted DOJ’s top priority areas for FCA enforcement in the coming years as well as tools the government is developing to increase its ability to uncover complex fraudulent schemes.
Continue Reading “You Have to Come Down with a Sledgehammer, Not a Toothpick!” – Senator Grassley Previews Potential Amendments to Increase False Claims Act Enforcement and Recoveries