On Friday, June 13, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that German-based audio solutions company d&b audiotechnik had agreed to pay over $2.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by obtaining a Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan and loan forgiveness under false pretenses.
According to the government’s press release, d&b submitted a PPP loan application in which it certified that it had fewer than 300 employees, even though the entity submitting the application was a U.S. subsidiary of a German company with well over 300 employees. The loan was subsequently forgiven. The amount of the FCA settlement was twice what the company originally borrowed.
Interestingly, the case was brought under the FCA’s qui tam provisions by a serial corporate whistleblower called “GNGH2 Inc.” A google search shows that the same company has brought other FCA qui tam lawsuits related to allegedly fraudulent PPP loans, including one that was settled in February 2025 for over $14 million, with the whistleblower entity receiving over $1.4 million. As with the d&b case, the prior case also involved a U.S. subsidiary of a larger foreign company submitting PPP applications that claimed too few employees.
Although the PPP program is now well over 5 years old, PPP fraud investigations and settlements keep coming, and likely will not stop any time soon. On the civil FCA side, the statute of limitations for such claims are typically 6 years, but can be extended up to 10 years depending upon when the relevant agencies knew or should have known about the fraud. On the criminal side, although the standard federal criminal statute of limitations is 5 years, President Biden signed legislation increasing the SOL for pandemic-related fraud to 10 years.
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The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman represent businesses of all types and sizes in connection with False Claims Act investigations and litigation. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us.