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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recovered $2.9 billion under the False Claims Act (FCA) in 2024, a 5% bump from 2023. This total represents the most recovered since 2021 and reaffirms the FCA’s central role in the government’s anti-fraud efforts.

The DOJ entered 558 FCA settlements and judgments, the second highest total after 2023’s record of 566 recoveries, and whistleblowers brought a record 979 qui tam lawsuits in 2024. “The False Claims Act and its whistleblower provisions remain a critical tool in protecting the public fisc and ensuring that taxpayer funds serve the purposes for which they were intended,” said Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Mizer in the DOJ’s January 15, 2025 press release.

Healthcare fraud remains the FCA’s main target, with over $1.67 billion of 2024’s total relating to healthcare matters. Providers, including managed care providers, hospitals and other medical facilities, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, and physicians, were all subject to FCA enforcement in 2024. The DOJ also recovered from fraud allegations in military procurement and the energy sector, as well.

Despite constitutional challenges to the qui tam provisions of the FCA, urged by Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc. (No. 21-1052), and a subsequent ruling from the Middle District of Florida finding that relators improperly possess civil enforcement authority, whistleblowers continue to remain a critical aspect of the FCA. Approximately $2.4 billion of 2024’s recovery stemmed from lawsuits brought by relators.

The government’s recovery reflects numbers below the highs of 2014 and 2021, when $6.2 billion and $5.7 billion, respectively, were collected. Despite this drop-off, the FCA remains a highly utilized tool for government enforcement, and a key risk area for recipients of government money. In fact, the DOJ continues to promote new strategies, such as the use of data analytics, to increase the FCA claims it brings. In all events, companies that receive government funds should remain informed of the emerging legal and regulatory landscape to maintain compliance and mitigate FCA risk.

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