Fraud Penalties Have Nearly Doubled

October 19th, 2016

Ensure Compliance with Anti-Kickback Laws

For the first time in 20 years, penalties for violations of anti-kickback laws have nearly doubled, due to terms in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The act called for penalty fines to adjust for inflation by August 2016.

The penalty for each false claim will go from a minimum of $5,500 to $10,781. The maximum per each false claim increased to $21,563 from $11,000 for each individual false claim. Most cases allege thousands of claims and the civil money penalties can quickly add up to millions of dollars.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section Year in Review 2015, 225 convictions, and 11 corporate resolutions and pleas resulted in fines and penalties of almost $4 billion. Two-thirds of lawsuits came from corporate whistleblowers, while other cases are settled with no penalties.