Fiscal Year 2025’s Record False Claims Act Recoveries: What $6.8B Signals About Enforcement Priorities

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), through its Office of Public Affairs and Civil Division reporting, announced that False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments exceeded $6.8 billion for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025—its highest single-year total on record. The accompanying statistics show total recoveries of $6,888,096,266 in FY2025, alongside 1,297 qui tam (whistleblower) filings and 401 government-initiated matters, underscoring both the scale of enforcement and the centrality of private relators to the FCA ecosystem. Cumulatively, DOJ reports more than $85 billion recovered since the 1986 amendments that substantially strengthened the statute.

DOJ reiterates the FCA’s structural leverage: it authorizes treble damages and civil penalties for knowingly presenting false or fraudulent claims (or knowingly avoiding payment obligations) to the United States. Consistent with prior years, health care remained the dominant driver of recoveries. DOJ reports that over $5.7 billion of FY2025 recoveries related to the health care industry, reflecting both fiscal protection of Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE and (in DOJ’s framing) patient-safety objectives where medically unnecessary or harmful conduct is alleged. The statistics sheet similarly attributes $5,721,536,531 to matters where the Department of Health and Human Services was the primary client agency.

The FY2025 fact sheet—explicitly presented as “representative examples”—illustrates the enforcement mix within health care, including managed care risk-adjustment practices, drug pricing and kickbacks, and medically unnecessary services. It describes, among other examples, substantial resolutions and litigation activity involving diagnosis-code integrity in Medicare Advantage, alleged kickback arrangements that distort beneficiary enrollment and clinical decision-making, and pharmacy-related conduct involving prescriptions lacking a legitimate medical purpose. The fact sheet also highlights trials and verdicts pursued by relators, reinforcing that FCA exposure can materialize through both government intervention and privately driven litigation.

Outside health care, DOJ emphasizes procurement, loan, and grant fraud—particularly where misconduct can degrade mission performance or create national-security risk. FY2025 DoD-related recoveries totaled $633,927,500, while “other” (non-HHS and non-DoD) matters totaled $532,632,235. A notable throughline is cybersecurity compliance: the fact sheet reports more than $52 million recovered in nine civil cybersecurity fraud settlements in FY2025, and asserts that civil cybersecurity fraud settlements have more than tripled in each of the past two years. DOJ also points to pandemic-relief enforcement (over 200 FCA resolutions exceeding $230 million in FY2025) and an expanded focus on trade fraud, including a cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force targeting duty and tariff evasion schemes.

For contractors, grantees, and health care entities, the FY2025 reporting signals a compliance environment where “paper compliance” is increasingly tested against operational reality: coding integrity, inducement controls, sourcing and testing regimes, and cybersecurity representations are treated as material to payment. Just as importantly, DOJ explicitly frames cooperation, self-disclosure, and remediation as factors that can influence settlement terms—an incentive structure that elevates internal detection, prompt escalation, and demonstrable corrective action as core risk-management capabilities.

Disclaimer: This post is for general informational purposes only and summarizes publicly reported DOJ materials. It does not constitute legal advice, does not create an attorney–client relationship, and may omit important context contained in underlying pleadings, evidence, or settlement agreements. Readers should consult qualified counsel regarding specific facts and compliance obligations.