Government Program Fraud, False Claims Act & Qui Tam Litigation Playbook

The annual False Claims Act (FCA) recovery statistics issued by the U.S. Department of Justice for Fiscal Year 2024, coupled with the Trump administration’s focus on the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending and apparent intentions to rely on the FCA to pursue other administration priorities, signal a likely increase in FCA investigations and actions throughout 2025 and beyond.

On Feb. 22, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released its annual False Claims Act (FCA) recovery statistics and announced that it obtained more than $2.68 billion in settlements and judgments in fiscal year (FY) 2023 from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government, a 21% increase over the prior year's recoveries. As such, FY 2023 was another strong year for FCA enforcement and marked the fifteenth straight year where recoveries exceeded $2 billion. This past fiscal year also saw records set in several areas, including the highest number of settlements and judgments in DOJ history and a record number of civil investigative demands (CIDs) issued in connection with investigating FCA claims, revealing highly robust FCA investigative activity in 2023, which could signal even greater FCA judgments and recoveries in future years.