Department Of Justice Reaches Million-Dollar Settlement With Van Andel Research Institute To Resolve Allegations Of Undisclosed Foreign Ties To Nih Grants
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2021_0901_Van_Andel_Research_Institute_Settlement
A copy of the redacted executed settlement agreement is included in this link.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/press-release/file/1429341/download
Undisclosed Foreign Ties To Nih Grants
Second Settlement With VARI Brings Total Settlement Proceeds To $6.6 Million As NIH Imposes Specific Award Conditions On All VARI Grants
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced today that Van Andel Research Institute (“VARI” or the “Institute”) has agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by failing to disclose a foreign component of a National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) award and by failing to disclose foreign research support for two VARI researchers who served as principal investigators on NIH awards. In addition to this settlement—the second settlement with VARI in two years involving allegations of undisclosed foreign influence in federally-sponsored research—NIH imposed Specific Award Conditions on all of VARI’s NIH grants, including by requiring personal, executive-level certifications to the accuracy of NIH submissions, withdrawing certain of VARI’s expanded grant authorities, and removing all of VARI’s NIH grants from the Streamlined Non-Competing Award Process (“SNAP”).
