Delta Airlines has agreed to pay $8.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by breaching executive compensation limits imposed by Congress as a condition for receiving federal COVID-19 relief.
The relief funds came from the Payroll Support Program (PSP), created under the CARES Act. Between 2020 and 2023, Delta received nearly $11.9 billion, including $8.2 billion in grants that did not require repayment. In exchange, the airline agreed to cap compensation for executives who earned over $425,000 in 2019 until April 2023.
According to the settlement, Delta broke that agreement by awarding pay packages that exceeded legal thresholds, then falsely certified compliance with the terms of the PSP and failed to alert Treasury of its breach.
“When companies accept federal assistance, especially generous pandemic-relief funds like those at issue here, they owe a duty to the American people to respect the conditions placed on those funds,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “We will continue to enforce all available laws to punish the misuse of taxpayers’ money.”
The case began when a whistleblower—a financial researcher—filed a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act, a law that empowers private citizens to report fraud on the government’s behalf. As part of the resolution, the whistleblower (known legally as the relator) will receive $825,000 plus attorney’s fees.
The qui tam case, United States ex rel. H. Remidez, LLC v. Delta Airlines, Inc., No. 1:23-CV-1116, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The settlement was the result of an investigation led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the DOJ Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, and the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General.
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