Abbott Agrees to Pay Over $384 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Related to Powder Infant Formula and Nutritional Therapy Products

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09/14/2026

Abbott Agrees to Pay Over $384 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Related to Powder Infant Formula and Nutritional Therapy Products

(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong announced today that Connecticut has joined 39 other states and the federal government to reach an agreement with Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) to settle allegations that the company caused false claims to be submitted to federal and state programs arising from its failure to manufacture certain powder infant formula and nutritional therapy products in compliance with federal and state requirements. Abbott, an Illinois-based health care company that manufactures and sells infant formula and nutritional therapy products, will pay $348,700,868 to the United States to resolve the False Claims Act allegations and $35,491,288 to participating States for claims related to their state Medicaid programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds and regulates the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides nutritional support - including infant formula - to eligible participants. More than half of all infant formula purchased in the United States is paid for with USDA funds through WIC. Many state Medicaid programs also cover and pay for certain powder infant formula.

The national federal and state civil settlement resolves allegations that Abbott caused false claims to be submitted, between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022, to federal and state programs arising from Abbott's failure to manufacture certain powder infant formula and nutritional therapy products at its Sturgis, Michigan, and Casa Grande, Arizona, facilities in compliance with federal and state statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements. The federal and state governments allege Abbott knowingly manufactured infant formula purchased with taxpayer dollars in an environment that put the products at unacceptable risk of microorganism contamination and significantly impacted the products' reliability, quality, and safety. Specifically, Abbott allegedly failed to maintain its manufacturing equipment, failed to control the presence of water that put the products at increased risk of microorganism contamination, and, in certain instances, failed to disclose test results indicating the presence of microorganism contamination when responding to requests from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during 2019 and 2022 inspections at the Sturgis facility. Abbott's misrepresentations allegedly caused the WIC program and state Medicaid programs to purchase powder infant formula and nutritional products manufactured at these facilities despite the products' failure to meet statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements.

This settlement arises out of the qui tam lawsuit initially filed in 2022 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan under the federal False Claims Act and various state false claims statutes. On November 13, 2025, the United States filed its Complaint in Intervention alleging that Abbott caused WIC programs to purchase powder infant formula manufactured at the Sturgis facility despite the products' failure to meet statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements. On December 1, 2025, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee filed a Consolidated Complaint of the Intervening States against Abbott, asserting claims arising from their Medicaid programs.

"There are few things more sensitive than the safety of infant formula. For years, Abbott produced infant formula in inadequate facilities that significantly imperiled the reliability, safety and quality of its formula. And when those failures led to contamination, they failed to disclose it. Today we are holding the company accountable with a $384 million settlement. I am grateful to the whistleblowers who brought this case forward, and to the bipartisan team of attorneys general who led this effort alongside Connecticut," said Attorney General Tong.

The portion of the settlement attributable to the Connecticut Medicaid program is $936,629.70.

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) Team participated in the investigation and conducted settlement negotiations with Abbott on behalf of the states. The Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Tennessee.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Babbs served on the NAMFCU Team and, under the supervision of Deputy Associate Attorney General Gregory O'Connell, Chief of the Government Fraud Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
Twitter: @AGWilliamTong Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
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