Fraud By The Numbers

Fraud By The Numbers Series

  • CFTC Enforcement and Whistleblower Awards Plunged in 2025

    After a strong 2024, the CFTC whistleblower program experienced a decline in both enforcement and award payouts in fiscal year 2025.1 Though the agency received 1,697 tips during this year (just 47 below last year’s record total) and 203 Form WB-APP submissions, enforcement recoveries and awards are down significantly.   The agency publicized that it only had 13 new enforcement actions…

  • Fraud in the Medicare Advantage Program: a ~$1.3 billion year (so far!)

    $1.228 billion. That is the combined value of the Medicare Advantage-related False Claims Act settlements announced by the Department of Justice so far in 2026. The cases, involving suits against The Villages Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Matrix Medical Network, and others, continue to highlight intense enforcement focus on the industry.   Medicare Advantage (MA), also known as Medicare Part C,…

  • The Government Can’t Fight Fraud Without Fraud Fighters

    With a record number of whistleblowers filing False Claims Act (FCA) cases, and an administration that has declared that fighting fraud is a priority, the stage has been set for an unprecedented effort to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud. That effort requires government resources; specifically, it requires government lawyers and agents who are focused on investigating and enforcing…

  • U.S. Attorney Numbers

    The False Claims Act (FCA) confers nationwide jurisdiction, so whistleblowers can file cases, “where any defendant transacts business,” 31 U.S.C. 3732(a). Many cases could be filed in many different Districts.  It is therefore, relevant to see which districts have had the most success, as measured in judgments and settlements, relator share, and claims, in the recent past. Fortunately, TAF retains a case-by-case listing,…

  • The Rise of Data-Driven Relators

    The newest breed of whistleblower may never have worked for the company being investigated. Armed with public loan files, billing records, corporate registrations, websites, and increasingly sophisticated analytics, data miners are turning government data into False Claims Act recoveries.   The number of filed cases shows how quickly the field is growing. Whistleblowers filed a record 1,297 False Claims…

  • Fraud by the Numbers: State False Claims Acts That Take on Tax Fraud

    False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement is usually associated with government spending: a contractor overcharges an agency, a grantee misuses government funds, or a company falsely certifies compliance with contract requirements. But in a small number of non-Federal jurisdictions, FCAs can also target the other side of the ledger—money that should have been paid in taxes.  Zero versus ten. That…

  • Nursing a Grudge: DOJ Cracks Down on Nursing Home Cons

    The Department of Justice’s 2025 Report on Combatting Elder Fraud and Abuse revealed the Department initiated 283 enforcement actions involving over 600 defendants charged with stealing or alleged to have stolen over $2 billion from over 1 million victims as well as the government.1 In 2025, the Department brought several enforcement actions against nursing homes and providers that committed fraud, provided medically unnecessary services,…

  • Earning the Right to Hear Bad News First

    $1 million for a single tip. On January 29, 2026, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the U.S. Postal Service announced the first award under the Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program: $1 million to an individual whose information led to a deferred prosecution agreement and $3.28 million criminal fine against EBLOCK Corporation, an online used-vehicle auction…

  • Whistleblowers Had a Record Year in 2025

    It is time for our yearly review of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) annual False Claims Act (FCA) statistics.   In fiscal year 2025,1 DOJ’s FCA statistics broke records in multiple categories. First, DOJ reported an overall total of $6.8 billion recovered through FCA settlements and judgments, of which $5.34 billion was recovered through qui tam actions. As DOJ noted in its press release, that is the highest total…

  • The Securities Fraudster’s Shopping List

    What happens to investors’ money during a securities fraud? Often, it goes shopping. We reviewed six years of SEC enforcement actions, from January 2020 through December 2025, spanning administrations of both parties. Over that period, the SEC alleged in at least 85 enforcement actions that money taken from investors went to luxury purchases: 37 cases involving luxury…