The Department of Justice has announced that Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has agreed to pay $303,502 for allegedly providing incentives to student recruiters, settling a whistle blower case.

The claims were brought forward by whistle blower Maurice S., who is the co-owner of Joined Inc., a company that Oral Roberts University allegedly hired to help recruit students.

According to Maurice, the university paid Joined using part of each entering students’ tuition if the student had been recruited by Joined. He argued that this violated Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA), which prohibits higher education institutions from paying recruiters commissions or other forms of payment based on securing incoming students if that institution receives federal funding.

For his role in the ORU whistle blower case, Maurice will reportedly receive $45,000 for notifying federal authorities about the scheme.

The Department of Justice says that this is an attempt to ensure that recruiters do not advance their own financial interest at the expense of the students’ best interests.

On the Oral Roberts University case, Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division says “the integrity of our system of higher education is founded on allowing students to make enrollment decisions based on their own educational interests. We will not allow these important decisions to be compromised by educational institutions offering recruiters financial incentives to enroll students.”

In his whistle blower lawsuit, Maurice said that ORU employed Joined to help recruit students between 2014 and 2016.

The claims were brought forward as part of the qui tam, or whistle blower provisions of the False Claims Act. Allegedly, the university filed false claims to the U.S. Department of Education and received federal funds based on those claims. The university allegedly did not fulfill the requirements to receive the funds.

The Department of Justice notes that there has been no determination of liability on the ORU whistle blower lawsuit, as the claims were resolved in a settlement.

Whistle blowers like Maurice are people — employees, contractors, or associates — who provide insider knowledge to the government of fraud being committed by a company against the government. Fraud can take a number of forms, but those covered by the False Claims Act are medicare or medicaid health care billing fraud, government procurement and military contract fraud, SEC corporate fraud, and IRS tax fraud.

Fraud affects everyone, not just the federal government because it can lead to increased costs and taxes, and is a misuse of funds. Medicare.gov makes note of this in the context of Medicare fraud. 

On Whistle blowers.gov, the U.S. Department of Labor notes that happily, whistle blowers are legally protected from retaliation. Many people who could serve as whistle blowers may fear that their livelihood may be affected if they bring claims forward against a company. Though some companies may try to retaliate, this is illegal. Additionally, a whistle blower could be eligible for compensation if they file a successful qui tam lawsuit. 

The Oral Roberts University College Recruiters Whistle Blower Lawsuit is Case No. 6:16-cv-01570 (D.S.C.).

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.