Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : U.S. Increases Its Fraud Suit Revenue

Defense contractors and other companies accused in civil suits of defrauding the government paid out $257 million in fiscal 1990, the Justice Department said. It is a major jump from the $27 million collected in fiscal 1985. The False Claims Act in 1986 began authorizing the government to recover triple damages. It also made it easier for private citizens to bring fraud suits on behalf of the government. In one 1990 case $34 million was recovered from a Japanese bid-rigging cartel in the procurement of U.S. military contracts.