VA Consolidates Fraud Detection, Prevention, and Enforcement Efforts
Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.08.17
Continuing the Trump Administration’s focus on fraud, waste, and abuse, Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin announced a program to consolidate fraud detection, prevention, and remediation efforts in VA administered programs. The program, called Seek to Prevent Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (STOP FWA), consolidates fraud prevention and remediation efforts within VA health, benefits, and cemeteries programs and is expected to partner with other federal agencies to leverage best practice in fraud prevention, detection, and enforcement. Information sharing among fraud detection and remediation programs has accelerated in recent years across the government, and contractors are well served to consider a holistic approach to investigating (and, if needed, disclosing) misconduct because it is increasingly likely that multiple government stakeholders will be interested in the outcome.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
