DOJ Begins Memorializing Basis for Cooperation Credit in FCA Settlement Agreements
Sidley – Recently, DOJ quietly began implementing what appears to be a new policy to memorialize in FCA settlements the basis for the settling company earning credit for various forms of cooperation.
First, in June 2023, DOJ announced a settlement with a diagnostic laboratory billing company that allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary diagnostic panels run on individuals who received COVID-19 tests. The settlement agreement documented that the billing company “has been credited in this settlement under the Department of Justice’s Guidelines for Taking Voluntary Disclosure, Cooperation, and Remediation into Account in False Claims Act Matters, Justice Manual § 4-4.112.” Furthermore, the settlement agreement described that “[t]he cooperation [the company] provided included performing and disclosing the results of an internal investigation, disclosing relevant facts and material not known to the government but relevant to its investigation, providing information relevant to potential misconduct by other individuals and entities, and admitting liability.”
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