DOJ Starts Fraud Team to Investigate Civil Rights Violations

The Department of Justice is launching a new unit to investigate civil rights violations as fraud, raising the stakes for universities in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. 

The Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, announced Monday, plans to vigorously enforce the “False Claims Act against those who defraud the United States by taking its money while knowingly violating civil rights laws,” according to a DOJ memo about the unit. The False Claims Act is a new legal lever for the administration as it seeks to crack down on alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Federal contractors that knowingly violate civil rights laws and falsely certify compliance with such laws violate the False Claims Act and could face financial penalties.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a two-page memo that a “university that accepts federal funds could violate the False Claims Act when it 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. Colleges and universities cannot accept federal funds while discriminating against their students.”

Ogletree Deakins, a law firm, wrote in a blog post that the move “reflects a significant escalation in the federal government’s posture toward civil rights compliance and underscores expanding legal exposure for employers, contractors, and institutions operating under federal contracts or grants.”

Blanche strongly encouraged private individuals to file lawsuits under the False Claims Act. If they are successful, they can share in the monetary damages. (An appeals court decision in 2005 made it easier for individuals to sue colleges for alleged violations of the False Claims Act.) Individuals can also report potential fraud to the Justice Department, he added.

“The department recognizes that it alone cannot identify every instance of civil rights fraud,” he wrote.