False Claims Act &
Qui Tam
Paul, Weiss has successfully led the defense of some of the nation’s highest-stakes False Claims Act (FCA) disputes and investigations, including matters at the forefront of evolving FCA theories that test the outer limits of liability. We represent clients across the full lifecycle of FCA risk—from initial inquiry through final resolution—combining trial-proven advocacy with senior government insight to resolve or defeat cases efficiently and decisively.
We represent clients across industries with acute FCA exposure, including healthcare and life sciences, private equity, universities and research institutions, financial institutions, cybersecurity and technology, and nonprofit organizations, often in matters presenting novel FCA theories. We have recently led the successful defense of FCA matters relating to Anti‑Kickback Statute and Medicare overbilling allegations, PE rollup and successor‑liability theories, grant and contract certification issues, COVID relief and Payment Protection Program (PPP) allegations, and cybersecurity‑related obligations. We are also at the forefront of legal challenges to invalidate the qui tam provisions of the FCA.
A successful FCA action can carry treble damages, statutory penalties, and the risk of suspension or debarment, along with significant reputational and collateral regulatory consequences. Private qui tam filings frequently prompt parallel investigations by the Department of Justice, state Attorneys General, Inspectors General, and other agencies, increasing exposure to additional civil claims and potential criminal charges. Against a backdrop of increasingly active relators’ counsel, aggressive regulatory enforcement postures, and expanding legal theories, we focus on swift containment, precise engagement with government decision-makers, and litigation strategies calibrated to win.
Our FCA team includes a former U.S. Attorney General and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; a former Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and more than 10 former Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the Central and Northern Districts of California. The team also includes former senior members of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
We regularly persuade enforcement authorities to decline intervention or close investigations without action. Where litigation proceeds, our trial lawyers are prepared to mount a rigorous defense in federal and state courts nationwide, including defeating complaints at the pleading stage, narrowing claims through motion practice and expert-driven discovery, and trying cases to verdict when necessary. We also manage the broader implications of FCA matters—congressional inquiries, media scrutiny, and parallel regulatory or shareholder proceedings—to protect business continuity and enterprise value.
We are focused on practical outcomes: preventing intervention, securing dismissals, and, when needed, trying cases to final judgment. Our experience with matters that push the boundaries of FCA liability, across diverse sectors and procedural postures, enables us to anticipate government and relator strategies and deliver clear, results-oriented defenses.
Recent
Experience
Recent Engagements
- Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) in a successful motion to dismiss a major federal False Claims Act case that challenged three companies', including ADP’s, practice of retaining the interest earned on funds held from their clients that were ultimately due, and timely paid, to the government as tax payments.
- Bank of New York Mellon in allegations under state False Claims Acts and its investigations by Attorneys General of New York, Massachusetts and Virginia relating to Foreign Currency Exchange fees in custodial accounts.
- Carolina Liquid Chemistries (CLC), a leading provider of chemistry analyzers and reagents for drug testing and general chemistry testing, in winning summary judgment of a long running False Claims Act litigation brought by two whistleblowers who alleged that CLC engaged in “upcoding”—overbilling Medicare and Medicaid by claiming that its urine drug test machines are capable of performing high-complexity quantitative drug testing, which is reimbursed at higher amounts, when instead the machines could perform only basic qualitative testing—thus costing the government millions of dollars. The defense won the dismissal of two earlier versions of the complaint, and following extensive discovery on the third amended complaint, the court granted CLC’s summary judgment motion, a rare outcome in a federal FCA case.
- Citigroup in securing the dismissal of a qui tam action brought in Florida state court under the Florida False Claims Act in connection with two synthetic fixed-rate transactions with a notional value of $1 billion entered into by the Central Florida Expressway Authority with Citibank and several other banks. The relator alleged that the defendant banks fraudulently induced the Authority to enter into the at-issue swap agreements and claimed that all payments made to the defendant banks constituted false claims.
- Citigroup Global Markets in defense of five false claims act suits brought in Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois, and an antitrust class action lawsuit brought in federal court with respect to the same financial instrument, based on allegations that Citi and other bank defendants that served as remarketing agents for municipal bonds called variable rate demand obligations (VRDOs) engaged in fraudulent conduct and colluded to set artificially high VRDO interest rates.
- Florida Medical Associates, LLC in an Eleventh Circuit appeal challenging the constitutionality of the FCA’s qui tam provisions relating to a False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a private relator alleging that the company misrepresented patient medical conditions to Medicare.
- Gilead Sciences in a high-profile anti-kickback False Claims Act case in which two whistleblowers alleged that Gilead violated the FCA by using fraudulent speaker and advisory programs to pay illegal kickbacks to doctors who over-prescribed Gilead’s hepatitis B medications. Following two years of litigation, Gilead reached a highly favorable settlement prior to a scheduled trial.
- Invitation Homes (IH) in the favorable settlement of a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit brought on behalf of 35 California municipalities alleging that IH systematically failed to obtain required building permits for renovations undertaken at the single-family homes it owns, and that IH avoided potentially millions of dollars in permitting fees and property taxes.
- JM Eagle, the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturer, in the successful defense of federal qui tam litigation brought on behalf of dozens of state and local water districts asserting over $1 billion in potential damages regarding allegations that JM Eagle misrepresented that its PVC pipe complied with industry standards. Paul, Weiss was retained after JM Eagle was found liable on False Claims Act claims during the liability phase of the trial. At the conclusion of evidence in a bellwether damages jury trial, the court limited plaintiff’s recovery from $58 million (before trebling) to, at most, $1.2 to $2.1 million, and ultimately declared a mistrial. JM Eagle subsequently moved for judgment as a matter of law and the court granted the motion and dismissed the case.
- A global investment firm in False Claims Act litigation in the Central District of California concerning alleged billing practices at a healthcare company affiliated with the investment firm, obtaining a with-prejudice dismissal.
- Pfizer in the settlement of a False Claims Act suit brought by the Department of Justice alleging that one of its subsidiaries, Wyeth, sold Protonix Oral and Protonix IV through a bundled sales arrangement that resulted in a higher price paid by Medicaid.
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as lead trial counsel in a civil False Claims Act/Anti-Kickback Statute lawsuit brought by the DOJ.
- The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and eight high-ranking individual defendants in winning the complete dismissal of a qui tam FCA whistleblower lawsuit brought in the Northern District of California alleging that UCSF Medical Center was overbilling Medicare for certain neurology procedures. Following an internal investigation and presentation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DOJ declined to intervene in the case. The district court subsequently dismissed the private case, and the Ninth Circuit issued a unanimous affirmance.
- A private equity firm in a DOJ False Claims Act investigation related to acquisitions of certain medical practices over a five-year period. Paul, Weiss convinced the DOJ to decline to pursue the case and subsequently secured the voluntary dismissal of a sealed qui tam complaint filed by a whistleblower.
- A major equipment manufacturer in a civil False Claims Act investigation by the Department of Justice and the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, and a related Department of Justice criminal fraud investigation.
- A non-profit organization in successfully securing a DOJ decision not to intervene in a qui tam lawsuit filed by a relator seeking recovery related to PPP loans obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
