False Claims Act

Alston & Bird’s False Claims Act team is led by former high-ranking government enforcement officials, including DOJ Civil Division leaders and U.S. attorneys who have handled hundreds of government investigations, as well as litigators who have focused their careers on defending clients in civil enforcement actions and FCA litigation. 

Our clients come from multiple industries, including health care, government contracts and construction, higher education, financial services, retail, and hospitality. In addition to our defense work, we conduct internal investigations and advise clients on disclosure considerations, evaluate FCA risks as part of transactional due diligence, and develop corporate compliance programs designed to mitigate enforcement risk.

The highly regulated health care industry is the most common target of FCA enforcement actions. Our FCA lawyers work with our nationally recognized health care regulatory group in representing clients of all types, including hospitals and health systems, academic medical centers, post-acute care providers, ancillary services providers, and laboratories.

Working with our construction and government contracts lawyers, we provide single-source representation for companies facing investigations and FCA lawsuits alleging violations of government contracts and billing fraud.

Colleges and universities—particularly those in the for-profit sector—are a frequent target of FCA enforcement actions involving government-backed student loans. We build long-term relationships with your in-house team to provide seamless service should the government bring an investigation.

As the plaintiffs’ bar has grown more aggressive in pursuing nontraditional FCA targets, we have defended some of the country’s most highly respected restaurant, retail, and entertainment companies against fraud lawsuits arising under state unclaimed property laws. Working with our tax team, we are well situated to provide superior counsel in these complex matters.

Across all of these engagements, the strength of our representation comes through careful collaboration among our seasoned FCA lawyers and industry insiders across the firm. 

Health Care
Government Contracts; Construction & Engineering
Higher Education
Financial Services
Retail, Hospitality & Entertainment

Health Care

• Representing a developer of proprietary regenerative biomedical products in responding to a civil investigative demand issued pursuant to the False Claims Act.
• Counsel to one of the country’s premier home health providers in a False Claims Act investigation and litigation; obtained multiple government declinations and dismissals of cases involving allegations of medical necessity, billing fraud, Anti-Kickback Statute violations, and improper use of electronic medical technology.
• Defended a senior care company in parallel civil and criminal proceedings involving allegations of cost report fraud, billing fraud, and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute; obtained criminal declination and declinations of seven qui tam lawsuits during a nine-year government investigation.
• Defended a behavioral health company in a False Claims Act matter involving alleged kickbacks to medical directors and referring physicians; obtained government declination and dismissal of the lawsuit after a three-year investigation.
• Counsel to a hospice company in a False Claims Act investigation and follow-on qui tam litigation; obtained government declination after a seven-year investigation and dismissal of the relator’s central allegations.
• Represented a health system in one of the largest government investigations into alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The parallel criminal and civil investigations involved allegations that sham payments were made to interpreters in exchange for the referral of undocumented pregnant women for delivery services. 
• Represented a major hospital and health system in a False Claims Act investigation into alleged Anti-Kickback Statute violations in connection with physician practice acquisitions; resolved a complex investigation on favorable terms and negotiated a narrow corporate integrity agreement.
• Obtained complete dismissal with prejudice for Stanford University, its two hospitals, its general counsel, and a faculty physician in California federal court in a $468 million whistleblower suit alleging widespread fraud on various government health care programs under the False Claims Act.
• Won summary judgment for the country’s largest mobile X-ray provider in a qui tam action alleging violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute based on a Medicare “cost swapping” theory.
• Independent review organization and outside reviewer for a major pharmaceutical company, reviewing the company’s systems, policies, and procedures; interviewing employees; and preparing a written assessment report pursuant to the terms of the company’s corporate integrity agreement.
• Obtained parallel dismissals of a federal FCA qui tam action alleging the performance of medically unnecessary cardiac catheterizations and a related state class action brought by patients against the facilities where the catheterizations were performed.
• Represented a national hospital chain in an FCA investigation involving alleged violations of the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute as a result of certain physician relationships. The matter also involved allegations that the hospital admitted patients as inpatients who should have been treated as outpatients for observation.
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Government Contracts; Construction & Engineering

• Defended a large construction and management engineering firm in a case involving alleged violations of the FCA in connection with a $600+ million construction program at a public college; the matter was ultimately resolved, with the government withdrawing its allegations and rescinding the termination letter.
• Defended an international design and engineering firm in response to a qui tam relator’s allegations of construction mismanagement and fraudulent billing associated with the defendant’s performance of approximately $150 million of U.S. Agency for International Development contracts in Pakistan.
• Defended an international government contractor in response to a U.S. Attorney’s Office grand jury investigation into alleged procurement fraud.
• Defended a national design and engineering firm in connection with civil racketeering, false statements, fraud, and breach of contract claims by a public school district associated with the client’s management of an approximately $750 million taxpayer-funded K-12 schools construction program. More than $150 million of adverse civil claims were resolved for a $7.5 million foundation donation and no admission of liability.
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Higher Education

• Defended an NYSE-listed organization of colleges in a government investigation and qui tam litigation arising under alleged violations of a program participation agreement and accreditation fraud.
• Represented one of the country’s largest postsecondary education providers in a government investigation and qui tam litigation alleging that university staff were encouraged to enroll unqualified students in an effort to obtain tuition payments through federal student loan programs.
• Counsel to a nonprofit college with ground-based and online classes in a government investigation and qui tam litigation alleging violations of the incentive-compensation ban of the Higher Education Act.
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Financial Services

• Obtained complete dismissal with prejudice of a complaint alleging violations of the False Claims Act on behalf of a mortgage banking firm. The complaint, which was filed by a qui tam relator in the Southern District of New York, alleged that our client and 16 other mortgage servicers engaged in a nationwide scheme to submit fraudulent claims for millions of dollars in inflated foreclosure costs and expenses to the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The court found that the relator failed to adequately plead that the mortgage servicers knowingly participated in the alleged fraud and would be unable to cure this deficiency by amending the complaint.
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Retail, Hospitality & Entertainment

• Represented more than a dozen retail and restaurant companies, including some of the most recognizable companies in America, in a Delaware qui tam action alleging FCA liability in connection with unclaimed property laws related to gift card balances; obtained dismissal of several clients under a first-of-its-kind jurisdictional argument.
• Defended one of the world’s largest prescription drug and retail companies in FCA litigation arising under unclaimed property laws related to gift cards; persuaded the government to decline to intervene and obtained dismissal of the case on the pleadings.
• Represented clients in the retail, hospitality, and entertainment industries in state attorneys general fraud investigations arising under unclaimed property laws. 
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