1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Travel Expense Rebates And Incentives Result In $40 Million FCA Settlement

Travel Expense Rebates And Incentives Result In $40 Million FCA Settlement

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.29.05

PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $41.9 million to settle a qui tam civil False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a former partner alleging that the accounting firm had knowingly overbilled various government agencies for travel in conjunction with auditing and consulting work by failing to give the government credit for commissions, rebates, and incentives that travel companies and credit card issuers extended to the firm. The former partner turned whistleblower, who alleged that the accounting firm's management ignored internal complaints about the practice, reportedly is expected to receive between 15 and 25 percent of the government's $41.9 million recovery, plus $1.6 million in legal fees and costs.

Insights

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....

View All Insights