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[Virtual] 2022 Qui Tam Conference

February 23, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - February 25, 2022 @ 5:00 pm

The False Claims Act – Lincoln’s Law Meets the 21st Century

Join the FBA’s Qui Tam Section for a three-day virtual conference from February 23 to February 25, 2022, starting at 12:00pm ET each day. This year’s conference will focus on how the False Claims Act (FCA), a law from the 19th Century, is meeting a host of 21st Century challenges that range from telemedicine to cybersecurity to data mining. We’ll also highlight emerging DOJ priorities, including fraud in pandemic-related spending and Medicare Part C.

This annual event, dubbed “the Oscars for False Claims Act nerds” by a 2020 panelist, provides timely perspectives from all sides of the FCA ecosystem: prosecutors, relator-side attorneys, defense counsel, inspectors general, federal judges, and in-house counsel.

Earn CLE credit while getting insight from the nation’s top echelon of FCA practitioners — all from the comfort of your desk.

Registration for this event is now closed.


Agenda

Wednesday, February 23

All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET | Welcome Remarks and Keynote Presentation

[WELCOME] R. Scott Oswald, Managing Principal, The Employment Law Group P.C.; FBA Qui Tam Section Chair
[KEYNOTE] Gregory E. Demske, Chief Counsel to the Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services
Since 2012, Gregory E. Demske has served as Chief Counsel to the Inspector General and leads the 90-person HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General (OCIG). OCIG provides all legal services to HHS OIG, including advice on audits, investigations, evaluations, and OIG operations; representation of OIG in civil and administrative fraud enforcement; and issuance of guidance to the health care industry. Mr. Demske oversees all OIG internal legal advice, coordination with the Department of Justice on False Claims Act cases involving HHS, OIG’s civil money penalty and program exclusion enforcement, negotiation and monitoring of corporate integrity agreements, and industry guidance on the anti-kickback statute and other OIG enforcement authorities. 

 1:10 PM – 2:10 PM ET | Year in Review

Our fifth annual Year in Review panel will provide an overview of the significant developments in False Claims Act case law, settlements, and FCA-related government policies of 2021. Panelists will review and discuss notable developments in the Department of Justice’s policies within the Biden Administration. These include the future directions of the Granston Memo and Brand Memo, as well as notable appellate cases on causation, and fraudulent inducement, materiality, and pleading under 9(b). 

  • John R. Thomas, Jr.,  Partner, Hafemann Magee Thomas (moderator)
  • Jessie K. Liu, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
  • Benjamin Wei, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Claire M. Sylvia, Attorney, Phillips & Cohen LLP

2:20 PM – 3:20 PM ET | The False Claims Act as a Weapon Against Cyber Fraud

This panel will discuss how the False Claims Act (FCA) can be used as an effective weapon against cyber fraud.  The U.S. Department of Justice announced a Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative in October of 2021.  The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative will employ the False Claims Act to pursue cybersecurity related fraud by government contractors and grant recipients.  Panelists will explore theories of liability and damages to include knowing failures to comply with cybersecurity standards, knowing misrepresentations of security controls and practices, and recognizing failures to timely report suspect breaches. 

  • Renée Brooker, Partner, Tycko & Zavareei LLP (moderator)
  • Colleen Kennedy, Deputy Chief, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California
  • Michael Ronickher, Partner, Constantine Cannon LLP
  • Jennifer Short, Partner, Blank Rome LLP

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET | Prosecuting Telehealth Fraud Under the False Claims Act

This panel will discuss the use of the False Claims Act (FCA) to combat the rapidly increasing problem of telehealth fraud. Topics will include recent U.S. Department of Justice settlements, the interaction of criminal and civil remedies, and the difficulty in recouping the substantial amount of public funds that are often obtained through illegal telehealth operations. The panel will also discuss the differing perspectives on these issues held by each of the three parties in an FCA case.

  • David Wiseman, Assistant Director, Fraud Section, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice (moderator)
  • Amy L. Easton, Partner, Phillips & Cohen LLP
  • David Leviss, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers LLP
  • Carolyn Tapie, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida

Thursday, February 24

All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET | Welcome Remarks and Keynote Presentation

[WELCOME] Megan Mocho, Partner, Holland & Knight; FBA Qui Tam Section Vice-Chair
[KEYNOTE] Matthew M. Graves
, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Matthew M. Graves assumed the position of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in November 2021. Before going to private practice for a brief period, Graves worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for nearly a decade, prosecuting a wide variety of cases as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and later as Acting Chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section.


[KEYNOTE] Michael Horowitz
, Inspector General & Chair of Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), U.S. Department of Justice
As Inspector General of the Department of Justice, Mr. Horowitz oversees a nationwide workforce of more than 500 special agents, auditors, inspectors, attorneys, and support staff whose mission is to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel, and to promote economy and efficiency in Department operations.  Since April 2020, he has simultaneously led the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a committee of 21 federal Inspectors General that Congress created to oversee the over $5 trillion in federal pandemic-related emergency spending.  From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Horowitz served as the Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an organization comprised of all 75 federal Inspectors General.  

1:10 PM – 2:10 PM ET | Private Equity – The Newest Face at the FCA Table

This panel will explore the government’s most recent target for False Claims Act (FCA) liability – private equity (PE) actors and their principals. The discussion will review the changes within the healthcare landscape, fueled by both the DOJ’s focus on PE firms and executives whose management allegedly created or perpetuated fraud schemes. Panelists will also highlight the importance of pre- and post-acquisition due diligence in the healthcare space or any other highly regulated industry.

  • Pamela Brecht, Partner, Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP (moderator)
  • Angela Humphreys, Chair, Healthcare Practice, Co-Chair Healthcare Private Equity Team, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
  • Habib Ilahi, Partner, Stinson LLP

2:20 PM – 3:20 PM ET | Moneyball: The Use of Data Analytics in False Claims Act Cases

Hear government, relators’ and defense counsel perspectives on the evolving use of data analytics in False Claims Act (FCA) cases, including: proactive government and corporate efforts to identify vulnerabilities and stop fraud; government and data-driven relators’ use of analyses to identify possible False Claims Act violations; the government’s use of data to investigate and enhance qui tam allegations; and  defense strategies and legal headwinds in data-driven cases.

  • Matthew Howatt, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania  (moderator)
  • Jonathan Ferry, Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
  • Kathleen McGinty, Acting Deputy Director, Fraud Investigations Group, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
  • Jeremy Wells, Partner, Reid Collins & Tsai LLP

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET | Statistical Sampling and the False Claims Act: Update and Trends

This panel will feature perspectives from former government officials, as well as members of the defense and whistleblower bars, to examine the perennial issue of statistical sampling in civil fraud cases. The panel will review the legal landscape and provide a history of the use of statistical sampling in False Claims Act (FCA) cases. The panelists will discuss their experiences with sampling in a range of cases and provide practical advice on when sampling is appropriate and how it can be used effectively. The panelists will also discuss where statistical sampling might be headed in the future.

  • Benjamin C. Mizer, Partner, Jones Day (moderator)
  • Matthew D. Benedetto, Partner, WilmerHale
  • Mary Inman, Partner, Constantine Cannon LLP
  • Stephen Lee, Partner, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP

Friday, February 25

All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

[WELCOME] Michael Moore, Partner, Moore Hall, LLC

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET | Pandemic-Related Fraud and the FCA

The U.S. Department of Justice will rely on the False Claims Act (FCA) to pursue fraud in connection with the more than $5 trillion in pandemic-related spending authorized by Congress. This panel will discuss the emerging trends in FCA enforcement relating to pandemic response programs, featuring diverse perspectives from attorneys representing whistleblowers, defendants, and the government in connection with False Claims Act matters.  Among other things, the panel will discuss developments, challenges, and misconceptions relating to FCA enforcement in this emerging area.

  • Colin Huntley, Deputy Director, Fraud Section, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice (moderator)
  • Erica Blachman Hitchings, Partner, Whistleblower Law Collaborative, LLC
  • Jeffrey Gleason, Partner, Robins Kaplan LLP
  • Paul Kaufman, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

1:10 PM – 2:10 PM ET | The Modern Relator

This panel of experienced qui tam Plaintiff lawyers will provide an in-depth discussion on the evolution of qui tam cases, from the traditional individual whistleblower to the corporate relator. Join this impressive panel of lawyers in their discussion about the various forms of relators, including corporations and professional data miners, and the motivation behind these relator types. The panel will share their experiences with true corporate relators versus corporate fiction and provide useful insight as to how courts have been perceiving these various relator forms.  The panel will also discuss modern alternatives to the traditional relator, such as relator coalitions, and the driving factors behind creating such arrangements.  The panelists will also provide an overview of some of their more notable cases and what they learned from representing the “modern relator.”

  • Alison Hawthorne, Principal, Beasley Allen (moderator)
  • James F. Barger, Jr., Principal, Frohsin Barger Walthall & Bucy
  • Jason Marcus, Principal, Bracker & Marcus LLC
  • Robert “Bob” Thomas, Jr., Managing Member, Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC

2:20 PM – 3:35 PM ET | Strategies in Evaluating and Pursuing Medicare Part C and Medicaid Managed Care Cases—Falsity and Damages

This panel will address proving falsity and damages in Medicare Part C and Medicaid Managed Care FCA cases. We will discuss how to successfully evaluate falsity in the Part C context and satisfy materiality concerns, focusing on risk adjustment cases. With respect to damages, the panel will address damages theories in two contexts–fraud by the Managed Care insurers or plan programs and fraud by providers and intermediaries or vendors on the Managed Care program.

  • Sara Vann, Assistant Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Division, Office of the Attorney General, State of Georgia (moderator)
  • Edward Crooke, Assistant Director, Fraud Section, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Eva Gunasekera, Partner, Tycko & Zavareei LLP
  • Adam Tarosky, Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM ET | Refereeing the FCA: The View from the Bench

This panel of federal judges will provide us with a view from the bench as they discuss pre-litigation matters (such as sealing extensions) and gate-keeper issues (such as the public disclosure bar and the government’s discretion to dismiss qui tam cases).  The panel will also include discussion of recent developments in substantive False Claims Act (FCA) law, such as falsity and materiality, and key considerations at the motion to dismiss, discovery, and summary judgment phases of the litigation.  The session will conclude with a jurist’s perspective on some of the topics raised during earlier conference panels – for example, cyber fraud enforcement.

  • Naana Frimpong, Partner, DLA Piper LLP (moderator)
  • Hon. Amy Totenberg, Senior U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia
  • Hon. John Michael Vazquez, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • Hon. Andrea R. Wood, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Registration

Registration for this event is now closed.

Registration Fees

Early Bird Registration will be available through Friday, January 21, 2022.
Standard Registration will begin after Friday, January 21, 2022. 

Early Bird Standard
Full Conference Rates
FBA Sustaining Member $340 $385
FBA Member $360 $405
Qui Tam Section Member $295 $350
Nonmember $540 $585
Government/Academic $270 $315
Law Student/Judicial $90 $135
Single Day Rates
FBA Sustaining Member $190 $210
FBA Member $200 $220
Qui Tam Section Member $180 $200
Nonmember $280 $300
Government/Academic $160 $180
Law Student/Judicial $60 $80

Live Captioning
Closed captioning is available for all virtual webcasts.

Cancellation Policy
No refunds will be made for cancellations received after the close of business on Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Please contact Ariel White (awhite@fedbar.org) with cancellation and/or substitution requests.

Internet Requirements: Virtual programs require suitable internet strength to stream online panels with the Virtual Access Package. A minimum internet connection of 800 Kbps is recommended for an optimal attendee experience. Test your connection here.


CLE

Attendees can receive up to 10.5 CLE credits (12.6 credits for 50-min states).

Certificates and credit for these virtual panels will be processed/reported within 4-6 weeks of the event date and available for credit in states that allow credit for live webinar presentations. You must attend the live broadcast, answer engagement polls, and accurately enter your bar number in our database to receive credit.


Sponsors

Conference Supporter
David Haron | Hoyer Law Group, PLLC

Interested in sponsoring this event? View our Sponsorship Prospectus and contact sponsor@fedbar.org for more information.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What type of educational credit will be offered in the virtual format?
A:Attendees can receive up to 10.5 CLE credits (12.6 credits for 50-min states). Please check with your respective state(s) for distance learning CLE requirements.

Q: How do I obtain CLE Credit?
A: All registrants will be prompted to submit state bar information prior to the virtual series to ensure accurate CLE reporting. Credits will be processed/reported within 4-6 weeks of the webinar event date and available for credit in states that allow credit for live webinar presentations. Your bar number must be accurate in our database to receive credit. We will share detailed instructions with registrants for CLE reporting.

Q: How do I access the virtual panels?
A: Virtual panels will each have a unique link to watch the live broadcast. Registered attendees will receive login instructions via a welcome email and calendar invitations the week of the conference.

Q: Will recordings of the sessions be available after the event?
A: Sessions will be available for registrants to view live and on-demand following the conference. Please note that CLE credit will only be submitted for attendees that watch the live broadcast.

Q: Who do I contact for more information?
A: Please contact meetings@fedbar.org for any other questions.


Email Communication Policy
By registering for this event, you agree to receive email communications from the Federal Bar Association and affiliated sponsors of the program concerning event details, Continuing Legal Education certification, programming changes, upcoming events, surveys, and post-event communications.

Recording Disclaimer
By registering for an online FBA program, you agree to the recording of audio and visual content presented during the live event and consent to subsequent use of the recording by the FBA. You agree that the recording is the sole property of the FBA and that the recording may be used by the FBA in any manner in its sole and absolute discretion. This recording may include questions and poll responses provided by you during the live event. If you do not consent to the recording and the FBA’s use of the same, do not register for the event.

Financial Assistance
Program registrants (both FBA members and nonmembers) who are unable to afford the registration fee may receive a 50% discount on the member rate. Qualifying attorneys include those who are unemployed or actively seeking employment. A formal letter requesting the discount must be emailed to meetings@fedbar.org. That letter needs to state the reason for the attorney’s interest in the course or activity, as well as proof of income or an explanation of the financial hardship, and it must be signed by the requesting lawyer.

If you have any questions regarding this program, please contact meetings@fedbar.org.

Details

Start:
February 23, 2022 @ 12:00 pm
End:
February 25, 2022 @ 5:00 pm
Event Category:

Venue

Online
US