Insights

Washington – June 6, 2024: Crowell & Moring earned 78 rankings for 67 lawyers, as well as 41 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2024 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by failing to comply with federal anti-discrimination requirements incorporated into its federal contracts due to allegedly discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employment practices. This resolution marks the first FCA settlement secured by the DOJ under its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, created in May 2025, and announced by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of the administration’s coordinated efforts to target allegedly unlawful DEI practices. Per the agreement, the settlement is neither an admission of liability by IBM nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded.

On March 26, 2026, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) titled Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors. The EO declares diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) “activities” “unethical and often illegal,” and imposes new obligations on federal contractors and subcontractors related to DEI programming. Contractors that do business with the federal government — or that work as subcontractors for companies that do — should review the EO closely to determine the extent to which they are compliant with the new requirements.

False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments hit record highs yet again in FY 2025, surpassing the previous record by over $1 billion and setting a new high-water mark for the number of new FCA cases filed.  These records were built both on existing enforcement priorities such as pandemic-related fraud and healthcare enforcement actions and new guidance from the Executive Branch instructing the Department of Justice to enforce its 2025 priorities including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), civil rights, and customs issues.  Procurement fraud, cybersecurity issues, and small business fraud also remained focal points, with significant settlements in each of those areas.  In the courts, an Eleventh Circuit decision expanded relators’ ability to use discovery to avoid dismissal under Rule 9(b), and a Ninth Circuit ruling clarified a number of customs fraud issues while applying the Supreme Court’s Schutte scienter test.  Debate over the qui tam provisions’ constitutionality continued to grow, with arguments made in multiple circuits, including an Eleventh Circuit oral argument in the appeal of the Middle District of Florida’s Zafirov decision that helped to spark the recent wave of challenges.  Crowell FCA attorneys explain these developments, trends, and what’s next for the FCA in a “Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor.

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our January session is described below. When performing government contracts, contractors frequently experience performance challenges such as delays; increased performance costs attributable to government action; costs resulting from government-initiated contract termination; and costs of remediating certain environmental pollution and toxic tort litigation. Each of these add time or additional expense for which the government may have a legal obligation to pay. Join us as we discuss the process of filings claims and REAs, including a discussion of formal and informal dispute resolution under government contracts. We will provide a CLE certificate of attendance and other materials to use in seeking continuing education credits. Registration begins at 8:00 am.

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our second session is described below.

Government spending cuts will mean cuts to your bottom line.  In this time of budget sequestration and programmatic uncertainties, it is more important than ever for contractors to quickly recognize and effectively respond to potentially costly contract changes. Join us for a practical discussion as we guide participants through several types of constructive changes, addressing the critical role for front-line personnel in recognizing changes, methods to ensure notice requirements are met, maintenance of proper documentation, and the use of cross-disciplinary teams to ensure impacts are evaluated correctly.  We will examine the preparation of contract claims and requests for equitable adjustment, as well as techniques to preserve agency relationships while still protecting the company from unjust losses.

In this episode, Jason Crawford, Brian Tully McLaughlin, and Agustin Orozco explore the issues before the Supreme Court in two consolidated cases involving the False Claims Act. The hosts discuss the April 18 oral argument in Schutte/Proctor where the question before the Justices is whether a defendant’s subjective knowledge about whether its conduct was legal is relevant to whether it “knowingly” submitted false claims.

In this episode, hosts Michael Shaheen and Tully McLaughlin cover part one of a discussion about the Department of Justice’s authority to dismiss qui tam complaints brought by relators.  The podcast: (1) outlines the government’s authority under the statute and the caselaw; (2) discusses how the Department of Justice wields that authority; and (3) describes the false controversy between the Department and Senator Grassley on the scope of that authority. "Let's Talk FCA" is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.

In this episode, host Mana Lombardo and partner Tully McLaughlin discuss the top FCA decisions and developments of 2020 and look ahead to what’s in store in 2021 and beyond. "Let's Talk FCA" is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.