Understanding Qui Tam Litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act 2025

A pre-recorded streaming VIDEO replay of the January 2025 webcast, Understanding Qui Tam Litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act 2025.

In the 162 years of its existence, the federal False Claims Act (FCA) has become the single most important tool used to stop those who would defraud government programs.  Since 1986—when the law was substantially revamped and modernized—the United States has recovered more than $75 billion, with nearly $5 billion of that being recovered in the last four years.

The federal government’s success in recovering for fraudulent claims under the FCA caused the states to take notice, and, in 2002 Virginia became one of the first states to enact a state FCA statute when the General Assembly passed the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA).  Broadly speaking, the FCA and VFATA both make seven defined categories of behavior illegal and impose treble damages, civil penalties, attorney’s fees, and costs on those who violate the law.  Damages in these cases recoverable by private parties can be significant depending upon the type of fraud.  Successfully prosecuted claims filed by whistleblowers under the Virginia Whistleblower Law can receive 15–25% of the state’s recovery.  In cases prosecuted by the whistleblower on their own with private counsel, the recovery can could be 25–30% of the award.

The real power of the statute, however, is found in its qui tam provisions, which empower any “person” with non-public knowledge of false claims on the government to retain private counsel and bring a whistleblower claim on behalf of the United States or the Commonwealth of Virginia or both.  Thus, the statutes essentially empower lawyers in private practice (and their clients who have knowledge of fraud on the government) to become an important “force multiplier” supporting the efforts of both federal and state law enforcement.

Simply put, government now plays a larger role in our daily lives than ever before.  As a result, practitioners with clients in areas as diverse as health care, government contracting, construction, banking, and many more will find this seminar to be useful.  The program begins with an overview of both state and federal statutes and includes a summary of important recent decisions. Attendees also learn about the somewhat mysterious process of initiating a qui tam action and how to avoid the numerous procedural pitfalls that await the unwary.

• Get an overview of the False Claims Act (FCA) and its state counterpart, the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA).
• Learn about the importance of the FCA for health care providers, government contractors, construction companies, and others.
• Explore the nuts and bolts of FCA and VFATA litigation, including a discussion of the nuances of working with state and federal law enforcement officials.
• Listen to an in-depth discussion on the qui tam provisions of the FCA and the VFATA and how qui tam cases might differ from those initiated by the government on its own.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the importance of Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) to FCA litigation.
• Discover the cutting-edge areas of enforcement like cyber fraud and others.

Faculty

Zachary A. Kitts, K&G Law Group / Fairfax

Zachary Kitts is a partner at K&G Law Group, PLLC, where he concentrates his practice in the areas of qui tam litigation, business torts, and other complex civil litigation matters. 

Zach has prosecuted a wide variety of qui tam claims in state and federal courts across the country against health care providers, defense contractors, financial institutions, and others. To date, his cases have returned more than $120 million to the public fisc. His cases have been featured in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly top settlements for the years 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2021.

Mr. Kitts has been involved in several precedent-setting VFATA cases, including Commonwealth of Virginia ex rel. Siddiqui v. Navy Federal, Commonwealth of Virginia ex rel. FX Analytics v. Bank of New York Mellon, and Lewis v. City of Alexandria.  He is widely recognized as an expert on state FCA legislation, and he has testified before numerous state legislatures across the country about Virginia’s experience with the VFATA, and he was the primary architect of the comprehensive 2011 amendments to the statute.

On the federal side, Zach’s cases include numerous matters of first impression, including United States ex rel. Decesare v. Americare, et al., 757 F.Supp.2d 573 (E.D. Va. 2010), American Civil Liberties Union v. Holder, 673 F.3d 245 (4th. Cir. 2011), among others.

Mr. Kitts has been included in Virginia Super Lawyers magazine every year since 2011 and has been included in Best Lawyers in America every year since 2015. In 2020, he was the first lawyer ever to be named Qui Tam Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America. He received his B.A. from George Mason University in 1998 and his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2001.

Robert McIntosh, Assistant United States Attorney / Richmond

* Robert McIntosh is appearing in his personal capacity. The opinions and views he offers are not made on behalf of the United States or the Department of Justice.

Robert McIntosh became an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division in 2001. Since 2010, he has been the designated AUSA assigned to Affirmative Civil Enforcement. In the broadest sense, Affirmative Civil Enforcement includes litigation in which the United States is the plaintiff seeking remedies for the United States under various federal statutes. A significant portion of that work involves the investigation and litigation of qui tam actions alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act. In the healthcare context, false claims result from providers submitting claims for services not rendered, for services rendered to ineligible beneficiaries, for “upcoding” (overbilling) services, for medically unnecessary services, or for claims involving “self-referrals” or referrals involving kickbacks to the referring provider. In the context of defense contracting and procurement, false claims can involve a contractor’s false representations to secure a defense contract, overcharging for what was provided, supplying defective parts or munitions, falsely certifying that certain parts or defense systems passed quality tests, etc. Notably, false claims can be actionable in almost every program where the Government pays out monies, including programs designed to protect third parties such as violations of the Davis Bacon Act (which requires that laborers employed on covered federal construction projects be paid wages and fringe benefits at rates at least equal to the locally prevailing rates for similar work). More recently, it involves false claims made under the Payroll Protection Program. In his practice, Mr. McIntosh frequently jointly investigates and litigates claims of fraud with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Office of the Virginia Attorney General, as well as the Civil Frauds Section, U.S. Department of Justice.