Apollo Group Agrees to Pay $78.5 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case

For more than six years, the University of Phoenix, a subsidiary of the for-profit education company Apollo Group, has been battling a False Claims Act suit filed by two former employees who alleged that the university knowingly made false promises to the government in order to accept student financial aid funds. But on Monday, Apollo's lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and attorneys for the plaintiffs at Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein filed a joint stipulation dismissing the case as part of a settlement in which Apollo will pay the government $67.5 million ($19 million will go to the two whistle-blowers).