Obama Announces New Attorney General Pick to replace Eric Holder
Political disclaimer — this is a non-political blog dedicated to the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act and to False Claims Act/qui tam litigation in Virginia. This blog supports any and all government officials who support FCA recoveries, regardless of political party.
President Obama will nominate U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch to lead the Justice Department, according to an article in today’s Washington Post . The official nomination is due today at a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room, where President Obama will be joined by Ms. Lynch and outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.
Ms. Lynch still has to be confirmed by the Senate — however, she has served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (which is based in Brooklyn) twice, which means she has been confirmed by the full Senate on two prior occasions. It seems a safe bet that if she had any real problems in her background they would have come to light already.
Now onto the real issue for purposes of this blog — will Ms. Lynch choose to follow in the footsteps of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder and place an emphasis on enforcement of federal False Claims Act cases?
Lets be honest about it — even if she chooses to emphasize enforcement of FCA cases, General Holder will be a tough act to follow. In a press release by Justice a few weeks back when Gen. Holder announced his retirement, General Holder reviewed some of his many accomplishments using the federal FCA.
Since 2009 when Gen. Holder took the reins at Justice, the Department has recovered more than $20.2 billion from False Claims Act cases, with more than $14 billion of those recoveries from cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. This includes the incredible run that started in FY 2011 (when more than $5 billion was recovered) and ending in FY 2014 (which marked the third consecutive year in which more than $3 billion was recovered).
All that being said, there can be no doubt that General Holder was, to some degree, in the right place at the right time. That same thing is true for all great figures however, and that is exactly what Eric Holder was. He will, no doubt, go down in false claims act history as one of the most effective Attorney Generals ever to hold the post.
