IBM folds to Trump anti-DEI push, admits no misconduct but pays $17M penalty

IBM is first firm to pay penalty under Trump’s “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative.” IBM agreed to pay $17 million to the US government to resolve the Trump administration’s claim that the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies discriminated against employees and job-seekers. The Department of Justice (DOJ) touted the settlement on Friday, saying it’s the first one secured under the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative launched in May 2025. The Trump administration created the program to make DEI-related complaints against government contractors fall under the False Claims Act of 1863, which imposes triple damages and a civil penalty on contractors that defraud the government. The Justice Department alleged that IBM violated the False Claims Act by failing to comply with anti-discrimination requirements in its federal contracts, which required IBM to certify that it would not discriminate against employees or applicants. The US claims that IBM certified compliance despite maintaining practices that “discriminated against employees during employment and applicants for employment because of race, color, national origin, or sex, and failed to treat employees during employment with