GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey announced that Abbott Laboratories (Abbott), an Illinois-based health care company that manufactures and sells infant formula and nutritional therapy products, has agreed to pay $384,999,040 to resolve allegations that it caused false claims to be submitted to federal and state programs arising from its failure to manufacture certain powder infant formula and nutritional therapy products at its Sturgis, Michigan and Casa Grande, Arizona facilities in compliance with federal and state statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2022.The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds and regulates the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides nutritional support—including infant formula—to eligible participants. More than half of all infant formula purchased in the United States is paid for with USDA funds through WIC. State Medicaid Programs also cover and pay for certain infant formula.On November 13, 2025, the United States filed its Complaint in Intervention alleging that Abbott caused WIC programs to purchase powder infant formula manufactured at the Sturgis facility despite the products’ failure to meet statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements. The Complaint alleged that Abbott knowingly manufactured infant formula purchased with taxpayer dollars in an environment that put the products at unacceptable risk of microorganism contamination. As described in the Complaint, Abbott failed to maintain its manufacturing equipment, failed to control the presence of water that fostered microorganism growth, and promoted a culture of concealment that systematically failed to identify, document, investigate, and prevent potential contamination. “When someone supplies the government with food that is meant to be given to our infant children, we demand that it meet or exceed every federal nutrition and safety requirement,” said United States Attorney Timothy VerHey. “This case demonstrates that anyone who fails this standard will pay a high price.”Under the civil settlement agreement, Abbott will pay $348,700,868 to the United States to resolve the False Claims Act allegations and an additional $36,298,172 to certain States for claims settled by their State Medicaid and WIC programs. The civil settlement resolves claims brought under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions, which allow private individuals to bring suit on behalf of the United States for false claims submitted to federal programs and to share in any recovery. The qui tam action, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, is captioned United States, et al., ex rel. Scott Millard, et al., v. Abbott Laboratories, No. 1:22-cv-994 (W.D. Mich.).The resolution was the product of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, and USDA’s Office of Inspector General.This year, the Trump Administration launched the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division to enhance the Administration’s war on fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. When unscrupulous actors exploit these programs for their own financial gain, they defraud the government, harm the people these programs are designed to aid and protect, and undermine American businesses that play by the rules. The Civil Division’s False Claims Act enforcement plays a critical role in combatting such fraudulent schemes, recovering billions of dollars for the American taxpayers, and holding wrongdoers accountable…
Source: U.S. Department of Justice