Late last month, the federal government announced a False Claims Act settlement with Summit BHC New Jersey, LLC, d/b/a Seabrook (“Seabrook”), a prominent New Jersey Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation facility. The joint settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, in the amount of $19,751,762.69, covered claims submitted by Seabrook under the Medicaid program and Department of Veterans Affairs benefit programs.
For at least five years, under both Republican and Democrat administrations, there has been a focus on private equity actors in the healthcare space. Since at least 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has focused on private equity in enforcement efforts. In 2023, during the Biden administration, the Senate conducted a bipartisan investigation of the effect that private equity could have on the healthcare industry.
On February 14, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) signaled some “love” for whistleblowers and the future of the CFTC’s whistleblower program when announcing that Brian Young had been appointed as a new enforcement director. Young, whose career included a stint as a federal prosecutor, had most recently been the CFTC’s whistleblower chief.
When I litigated False Claims Act (FCA) cases at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), it was common practice for settlements to require Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs) setting forth ongoing duties and responsibilities for corporate defendants entering a settlement with the DOJ. Sometimes, those CIAs included stipulated penalty provisions, which establish set penalty amounts for violations of the terms of the CIA.
Without Congressional action, the authority of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) will sunset on March 27, 2025. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a significant ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently expanded the scope of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).
When I investigated and litigated False Claims Act (FCA) cases at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over the last 10 years, I was often surprised by just how little I knew about the broad array of government agencies and the intricacies of how those agencies’ various programs work.
Years ago, few lawyers thought a False Claims Act Case was appropriate to be resolved by mediation. It was Attorney General Janet Reno who introduced mediation to this practice area in the late 1990’s. She was optimistic the mediation process could be adapted to this and other types of Federal government-initiated litigation.
Takeaways:
- The IRS is modernizing its somewhat anemic whistleblower program.
- IRS whistleblower awards are finally rebounding.
- The IRS is aggressively targeting high-net-worth taxpayers and large corporations.
- Meanwhile, state false claims acts allowing tax-related claims continue to grow in number and have already yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries.
Takeaways:
- The Office of the Attorney General for D.C. announced a $40 million settlement with Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy, Inc., marking the largest income tax recovery in D.C. history.
- The resolution arose from a qui tam lawsuit filed under the D.C. False Claims Act relating to allegations of a longstanding income tax evasion scheme.
