DOJ Turns Up the Heat: New Strike Forces in Arizona, California, and Nevada & Renewed Focus on Data Mining
On April 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced two significant developments that materially expand the federal government’s fraud enforcement footprint and reshape the landscape for potential targets and whistleblowers. First, DOJ’s newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division (the “NFED”) (see our alert here ) launched the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force (the “Strike Force”), a multi-district initiative covering Arizona, Nevada, and the Northern District of California. Second, DOJ’s Civil Division announced the Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of Statistics (“FOCUS”) initiative , which formalizes DOJ’s engagement with data miners filing qui tam complaints under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). These actions signal an aggressive, data-driven, and resource-intensive approach to combating fraud against federal programs that entities and individuals should be prepared to navigate. NFED:...