On May 19, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General issued a memorandum entitled “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative,” intended to use the False Claims Act to bring enforcement actions against federal contractors and fund recipients accused of violating civil rights laws.
The DOJ Civil Fraud Section and Civil Rights Division are instructed, along with the Criminal Division, each of the 93 US Attorney’s Offices nationwide, states attorney general and local law enforcement, to engage in a coordinated effort to pursue these claims.
The memo describes the False Claims Act as “the Justice Department’s primary weapon against government fraud, waste, and abuse,” which is “implicated when a federal contractor or recipient of federal funds knowingly violates civil rights laws” or “whenever federal-funding recipients or contractors certify compliance with civil rights laws while knowingly engaging in racist preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities.”
The memorandum gives examples of violations that could lead to FCA actions, such as:
- a university that “encourages antisemitism, refuses to protect Jewish students, allows men to intrude into women’s bathrooms, or requires women to compete against men in athletic competitions;” and
- a federal-funding recipient that has “diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that assign benefits or burdens on race, ethnicity or national origin.”
Read the entire memorandum here: Deputy Attorney General Blanche Memo: Civil Rights Fraud Initiative