During the past month, Fraud by the Numbers has explored the pervasive nature of fraud on the government and financial markets across sectors, and the efforts to fight that fraud. While the scope of the problem is enormous, recoveries are still small compared with the hundreds of billions of dollars lost to fraud each year. But…

Thus far, 2025 False Claims Act settlement activity is shaping up to be more active than the first three quarters of 2024.* Using publicly available information from press releases, we compiled settlement data to illuminate trends in this space. From January 2025 through July 31, 2025, we saw a total of 171 publicly announced settlements…

In earlier Fraud by the Numbers, we have reviewed the U.S. Government’s own procurement data, to examine how taxpayer dollars are allocated across agencies and procurement priorities. After all, it’s the government money flowing to these agencies that attracts fraud.   Using the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual snapshot, we have analyzed: – Drug Procurement (reporting…

The Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2020 created a whistleblower reward program for individuals who report violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, the primary anti-money laundering law in the United States. The program, administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), has been in effect since January 1, 2021. The AMLA specified that the whistleblower…

If you’ve worked for a company that holds federal contracts, especially in tech, healthcare, or defense, you might be surprised to learn that cybersecurity failures can be considered fraud against the government. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is actively investigating and settling cases where companies misrepresented their cybersecurity practices. This growing area of enforcement…

States are currently facing significant fiscal challenges, with tax revenues weakening through late 2024 and into fiscal year 2025. This downturn is marked by notable declines in corporate income taxes and sluggish sales-tax growth. These trends, coupled with federal policy shifts and significant changes to federal tax policy under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” are…

Federal and state governments spend an enormous amount of their resources on prescription drugs. $137 billion, or roughly 1/6th of the Medicare budget, which pays for everything from major surgeries to nursing homes to dialysis, goes to cover pharmaceuticals. That doesn’t take into account the drug co-pays from Medicare beneficiaries, what state Medicaid programs spend…

Healthcare fraud generates the bulk of the Government’s recoveries under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). In fiscal year 2024, for example, $1.67 billion of the $2.9 billion in FCA recoveries obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) were from healthcare fraud cases. Kickback and physician self-referral arrangements that violate the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”)[1] and the…

The IRS Whistleblower Office published their annual fiscal year (“FY”) report for 2024. Since the whistleblower program began in 2007, the agency has collected $7.37 billion as a result of whistleblower tips. FY 2024 saw an increase in award totals, but an overall decrease in the number of awards. In FY 2024, the Whistleblower Office…

Over the past decade, private equity (PE) firms have dramatically increased their presence in the U.S. economy, including in critical sectors like healthcare and government procurement that involve millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. This expansion, driven by the pursuit of new revenue streams and operational efficiencies, has reshaped these industries. However, alongside this growth,…