Deloitte has agreed to pay the US government $21.5 million to settle allegations that it violated federal equal opportunity requirements tied to its government contracts.
The US Justice Department claimed that from 2017 to the present, the Big Four accounting giant falsely stated it had complied with Trump administration laws preventing proactive discrimination based on race and sex.
The firm was accused of tying the compensation and performance evaluations of some of its most senior partners to meeting non-public, race- and sex-based workforce composition goals.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, who replaced Pam Bondi in April, stated that “labelling the practice DEI does not make it lawful” as the administration moved to formalise the settlement.
Blanche added: “The Justice Department will aggressively pursue government contractors that have used taxpayer dollars to fund unlawful discrimination.”
Deloitte resolved the claims through the settlement, though no official determination of liability was made against the firm as part of the agreement.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward stated: “Today’s settlement is yet another example of this Department’s commitment to eliminating woke, unconstitutional practices from American workplaces.”
Conservative activist Edward Blum’s organisation, The American Alliance for Equal Rights, reported Deloitte to the government under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act and is set to receive $4.3 million from the settlement.
The American Alliance for Equal Rights has also targeted other organisations over DEI practices, including suing law firms Morrison and Foerster and Perkins Coie over diversity fellowship programmes.
The Trump administration’s broader crackdown on DEI practices has swept across major US law firms, with the President issuing a range of executive orders targeting contracts and security clearances.
Several prominent firms, including Paul Weiss, A&O Shearman, and Latham and Watkins, struck deals with the White House to drop federal inquiries, while Perkins Coie, Wilmer Hale, and Jenner and Block chose to fight back through federal court battles.
The Deloitte settlement represents one of the most financially significant outcomes yet of the administration’s sustained push to eliminate DEI frameworks from federally contracted businesses across the United States.