Widely regarded as the leading expert on the False Claims Act, Michael Granston ’88 has helped protect the American government against fraud for the past 25 years. He currently holds the highest career position in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, supervising more than 300 attorneys as the deputy assistant attorney general for commercial litigation. His reputation for integrity also led to his appointment as the division’s chief ethics officer. Throughout his career, he has served as lead counsel in many high-profile cases and oversaw the recovery of billions of dollars to the Treasury. A memorandum he issued in 2018, now commonly known as the Granston Memo, has become a widely referenced document in government investigations and scholarly research concerning the False Claims Act.
Granston, a chemistry and political science major at Carleton, earned his JD from Yale University, and has been invited as a keynote speaker at American Bar Association and Federal Bar Association events. He has received the Presidential Rank Award, and is a two-time recipient of the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. He is an adjunct law professor at the University of Oklahoma Law School and lives in Kensington, Maryland.