OnPath Fed Crdt Un v. US Dept of Trea, No. 22-30080 (5th Cir. 2023)
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The Treasury Department administers the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The Fund supports financial institutions that serve low-income clients and communities. To be eligible for funding, a financial institution must apply for and receive certification. As part of its certification application, the institution must show that it serves either (1) an Investment Area or (2) a Targeted Population. OnPath Federal Credit Union submitted a certification application. Its application stated that OnPath did not serve an Investment Area but that it did serve a Targeted Population. The Inspector General of the Treasury Department subsequently started an audit of OnPath. Based on the Inspector General’s report, the Fund determined that “as a result of [OnPath] submitting invalid information in its . . . Certification Application, the . . . awards made to [OnPath] constitute improper payments.” OnPath brought an action to challenge the agency’s findings and its demand for repayment. The district court denied OnPath’s motion to supplement the administrative record. The district court then granted summary judgment to the agency, rejecting OnPath’s arbitrariness challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act. OnPath appealed.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court and held that the agency here did not abuse its discretion by requiring repayment under these circumstances. The court explained that when n application for federal funding contains materially false information, it’s reasonable for the federal agency to want the money back. And that is so even if it turns out that the recipient might’ve been eligible to receive the funds on some other basis not presented in the application.
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