Whistleblower Allegations Cost Duke $112.5 Million

Duke University will settle False Claims Act allegations with a payment of more than $112 million. Whistleblower Joseph Thomas, an analyst who worked in pulmonary research at the university claimed researchers falsified data to win more than 20 grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the Justice Department. Thomas claimed that a Duke researcher had fabricated data that supported around $200 million worth of grants covering the study of lung function in mice. Duke claims it discovered the fraud after researcher Erin Potts-Kant was fired for embezzling funds, and notes that it has not been held liable even though it has settled the case. According to whistleblower Thomas’s attorneys, their client decided to sue on behalf of the federal government because Duke researchers and administrator’s refused face up to the fact that seven years worth of data were either false or unreliable. His lawsuit covered alleged fraud between 2006 and 2013, but the DOJ announced that the settlement resolved allegations stemming from conduct that occurred as recently as 2018.