Grant and Research Fraud

November 20, 2015

The University of Florida agreed to pay $19.875 million to settle allegations the university improperly charged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for salary and administrative costs on hundreds of federal grants.  According to the government, the university overcharged hundreds of grants for the salary costs of its employees, where it did not have documentation to support the level of effort claimed on the grants for those employees.  The government also contended the university charged for impermissible administrative costs for equipment and supplies and inflated costs charged to the grants.  DOJ

August 21, 2015

Wholly-owned Lockheed Martin Corporation subsidiary Sandia Corporation agreed to pay $4,790,042 to resolve allegations it violated the Byrd Amendment and the False Claims Act by using federal funds for activities related to lobbying Congress and federal agencies to obtain a renewal of its Management and Operating Contract with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to operate the Sandia National Laboratories.  DOJ

December 1, 2014

Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) agreed to pay $4M to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that it submitted false claims to the Corporation for National and Community Service concerning AmeriCorps state and national grants. The allegations first arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by MCCCD employee Christine Hunt under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. She will receive a whistleblower award of $775,827. DOJ

October 28, 2014

Columbia University agreed to pay $9M to settle allegations it defrauded the government of grant funding for AIDS and HIV related work. Specifically, the government charged that as the grant administrator for ICAP (formerly known as International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs), Columbia was required but failed to verify for nearly 200 ICAP employees that they performed the work for which they received grant funding. This resulted in Columbia obtaining grants for work that was not actually performed on the project being funded. Whistleblower Insider