Yale University Pays $7.6 Million To Settle False Claims Charges

The Department of Justice announced yesterday that Yale University had agreed to pay $7.6 million to settle civil charges it had violated the False Claims Act related to grants it had received in prior years. Specifically, the settlement was made for its handling of federally-funded research grants awarded to the university between January 2000 and December 2006. The $7.6 million consists of two parts: $3.8 million in actual damages for the false claims; and $3.8 million assessed as penalties for the false claims. According to investigators, Yale researchers "at times improperly transferred charges to a federal grant account to which those charges were not allocable" under specified grants. Yale was also charged with over allocating researcher salaries to specified grants. The DOJ suggests that Yale researchers involved in the over charging/over allocating were motivated in part to use up unused portions of grants toward the end of grant terms.