Department of Justice Should Coordinate Criminal and Civil Remedies To Effectively Pursue Fraud in Federal Programs

Gao ID: GGD-80-7 October 25, 1979

Opportunities for defrauding the government are virtually unlimited due to the number and variety of federal programs. The magnitude of suspected fraud which has surfaced indicates that the problem is severe and that vigorous enforcement of both criminal and civil remedies is warranted. The Justice Department's enforcement of civil remedies was reviewed.

Justice is not making full use of civil remedies to insure that: (1) civil sanctions are considered as part of a coordinated prosecutive strategy against fraud; (2) attorneys give adequate consideration to a defendant's present and future ability to pay before compromising and closing civil fraud cases; and (3) civil fraud debt collections are vigorously pursued. Justice needs to make the most of its opportunities to recover the losses of program funds due to fraudulent activity.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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