Colorado to receive $2 million from nationwide Abbott settlement related to contaminated infant formula allegations

Colorado to receive $2 million from nationwide Abbott settlement related to contaminated infant formula allegations

Sept. 16, 2026 (DENVER) - Attorney General Phil Weiser announced today that Colorado will receive approximately $2 million from a nationwide settlement agreement with Abbott Laboratories to settle allegations that the company filed false claims with federal and state programs for powder infant formula produced in facilities that put the products at increased risk of contamination and impacted the products' reliability, quality, and safety.

Abbott, an Illinois-based health care company that manufactures and sells infant formula, 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 federal and state investigation found that Abbott knowingly manufactured infant formula purchased with taxpayer dollars in an environment that put the products at unacceptable risk of contamination, which significantly impacted the products' safety. As a result of this settlement, Colorado's Medicaid program will recover $2 million. We'll continue to hold to account those who attempt to defraud or state Medicaid program," said Attorney General Weiser.

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

The 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, Mich. and Casa Grande, Ariz. facilities in compliance with federal and state statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements.

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 FDA 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 a whistleblower lawsuit initially filed in 2022 in a Michigan federal court under the federal False Claims Act and various state false claims statutes. The National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units 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.

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