U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has established a new division inside Washington’s federal prosecutor’s office dedicated to investigating fraud against the government and recovering taxpayer money.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced Wednesday that it had created the Fraud and Asset Recovery Division, consolidating prosecutors, investigators and financial specialists responsible for pursuing civil fraud cases and collecting money owed to the federal government.
Pirro said the reorganization supports President Donald Trump’s broader effort to combat fraud, waste and abuse across federal programs.
“President Trump has prioritized the elimination of fraud, waste, and abuse involving federal agencies and programs,” Pirro said.
“We are sending a clear message: those who cheat the federal government will face decisive, coordinated action.”
The new division will focus heavily on cases brought under the False Claims Act, one of the federal government’s most powerful tools for recovering money obtained through fraudulent claims.
The law allows the government to pursue companies and individuals accused of knowingly submitting false claims for federal funds.
Potential cases can involve health care programs, government contracts, grants, procurement programs and other areas where federal money is distributed.
The False Claims Act dates to the Civil War, when Congress enacted it in 1863 following widespread allegations that contractors were defrauding the Union Army.
Modern versions of the law allow the government to recover up to three times its damages, along with inflation-adjusted civil penalties.
The statute also includes a whistleblower provision allowing private individuals with knowledge of alleged fraud to file lawsuits on the government’s behalf.
Those whistleblowers, known as relators, can receive a portion of the government’s eventual recovery when their cases succeed.
False Claims Act enforcement has grown substantially in recent years.
The Justice Department reported more than $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments during fiscal 2025, the largest annual recovery in the statute’s history.
Whistleblowers filed a record 1,297 qui tam lawsuits during the year, while the government opened another 401 investigations on its own.
Since Congress substantially strengthened the law in 1986, False Claims Act settlements and judgments have exceeded $85 billion.
Pirro’s office already handles a significant share of major federal civil litigation because of its location in the nation’s capital.
According to the office, its prosecutors have recovered billions of dollars through False Claims Act and other civil enforcement cases involving allegations ranging from improper government-contract billing to pharmaceutical and medical-device violations.
The new structure is intended to give those investigations greater independence from the office’s defensive civil workload.
Previously, much of the affirmative fraud work was conducted through the Affirmative Civil Enforcement unit within the broader Civil Division.
That same division is also responsible for defending federal agencies and officials against lawsuits — a workload the office says increasingly competed with resources needed to pursue fraud cases.
The Fraud and Asset Recovery Division will now separate much of that affirmative enforcement work and place prosecutors, investigators, auditors and support personnel together in a dedicated unit.
Dan Schiffer will lead the division as chief, with Sean M. Tepe serving as deputy chief for operations.
The Justice Department has not announced how many employees will ultimately work in the division, whether it will receive additional funding or which investigations will become its first major targets.
The division will also assume responsibilities extending beyond False Claims Act litigation.
The office’s Financial Litigation Unit will become part of the new operation.
That unit is responsible for collecting criminal fines, restitution, special assessments, civil judgments, settlements and other debts owed to the federal government.
Its collection responsibilities also include certain debts owed to federal agencies, including qualifying student-loan obligations involving the Department of Education.
Civil asset forfeiture and enforcement of subpoenas issued by federal agencies and inspectors general will also fall within the division’s portfolio.
Pirro’s new operation is separate from the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, another Trump administration initiative launched earlier this year.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche established that nationwide division in April to coordinate criminal and civil fraud enforcement across federal jurisdictions.
The national operation supports Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, and brings together prosecutors, investigators, benefit agencies and government data systems to identify suspected fraud schemes.
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