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Little Dab of Fraud Will Do Ya (In)

Client Alert | 1 min read | 09.19.07

In an unusual remand from the en banc court back to the panel for a "do over," the Federal Circuit in Long Island Savings Bank, FSB v. U.S. (Sept. 13, 2007) reversed a $435 million verdict for the bank in this Winstar-type case because the bank, in its application materials, did not disclose that its CEO was violating federal banking regulations by having an interest in the law firm to which the bank sent all its mortgage business, with this common-law fraud making the contract void ab initio. Still unexplained, however, is why the panel felt obliged then to discuss whether the fraud was a prior material breach to the government's when the contract was void and its passing reference that there might be "other theories of recovery."

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

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....

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