Is the pitch directly to taxpayers? There have been lawsuits (by faculty even..including one in which the DOE was deposed) to rein in misappropriation of funds

Is the pitch directly to taxpayers? There have been lawsuits (by faculty even..including one in which the DOE was deposed) to rein in misappropriation of funds etc., but it seems like the agencies themselves don't care about conflicts of interest at these universities (and basically encourage them). Is it a research organization that says: 'Hey...we only do open source patents'?