Request for Reimbursement of Attorney Fees

An opinion was requested as to whether Government funds may be used to pay attorney fees assessed against three Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and an FBI informant individually in a suit for damages, in the event they personally have to pay the award of attorneys' fees. The agents and the informant are defendents in an action for money damages for which they are being retried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. It would appear that the action against the defendants arose by reason of the performance of their duties as employees of the FBI. It has long been the view of GAO that the United States may bear expenses, including court-imposed sanctions, which a Government employee incurs because of an act done in the discharge of his official duties. Hence, funds appropriated for the expenses of the FBI could be used to pay an award of attorneys' fees assessed against the defendants individually providing it is administratively determined that the defendents' obligation arose as a result of the performance of their duties as employees of the FBI. GAO held that payment would be proper as long as the actions giving rise to the obligation constituted officially authorized conduct.