Podcast: Public Disclosure: Cooperating With DOJ

In the third episode of Ropes & Gray's False Claims Act podcast series, Public Disclosure, litigation partner Kirsten Mayer considers the Department of Justice's 2019 guidance to companies who face investigation under the False Claims Act. DOJ has encouraged companies to cooperate, self-disclose and remediate compliance issues, but what—if anything—should a company expect to receive in return? Her guest is Professor Jacob Elberg from Seton Hall Law School, who handled FCA cases for the government for many years in his prior role as an AUSA and Health Care Fraud Chief in the District of New Jersey. The two discuss the DOJ guidance, what DOJ is trying to promote with it, and what the DOJ actually appears to be doing in its FCA settlements, based on Professor Elberg's recent analysis of civil settlement agreements in his article, "A Path to Data-Driven Health Care Enforcement." The results may surprise you.