Las Vegas Whistleblower Attorneys

Gallagher & Lipshutz is a Las Vegas law firm that represents whistleblowers in False Claims Act and qui tam cases: people who have seen fraud against Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Defense, or Nevada state programs and want to report it. We file and litigate these cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and in Nevada state court, and in federal courts elsewhere when the fraud reaches beyond Nevada.

Gallagher & Lipshutz represents whistleblowers across Nevada. Our office is located in southwest Las Vegas at 6120 S. Fort Apache Rd., serving clients throughout the Las Vegas Valley including Summerlin, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder City, as well as Northern Nevada including Reno, Sparks, and Carson City.

Our lawyers have experience filing qui tam cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and pursuing claims under both the federal False Claims Act and Nevada’s Submission of False Claims to State or Local Government Act (NRS 357.010 et seq.). Common Nevada whistleblower cases involve:

• Medicare and Medicaid fraud by Las Vegas hospitals, nursing homes, and medical practices
• COVID-19 relief fraud (PPP and EIDL loan misuse)
• Defense contractor fraud at Nellis Air Force Base and Creech Air Force Base
• Pharmaceutical kickbacks and off-label marketing
• Government contractor fraud across Nevada’s federal agencies

Whether the fraud involves federal funds, Nevada state funds, or both, our attorneys will evaluate your case confidentially and help you understand your rights as a potential relator.

Why hire a Las Vegas whistleblower attorney for a Nevada case?

A Nevada qui tam case is filed under seal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas. From that point the case belongs to the civil division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, whose attorneys decide, with the agency that lost the money, whether the government will intervene. They investigate with the agents who work here: HHS Office of Inspector General for Medicare and Medicaid, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for Nellis and Creech contracts, the FBI and the Small Business Administration for pandemic relief fraud. Cases under Nevada's own statute, NRS Chapter 357, go to the Nevada Attorney General, whose Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in Las Vegas handles the healthcare cases.

Relator's counsel presents the case to those offices, answers their questions, and prepares the whistleblower for the interview that usually follows. Doing that in person, with lawyers the assigned prosecutors already know, is a practical advantage a Las Vegas whistleblower attorney brings to a Nevada case. The firm also serves as local counsel when a whistleblower's own lawyer is out of state, and handles federal False Claims Act matters outside Nevada where the facts support it.

Whistleblower cases require legal judgment, careful investigation, and a clear understanding of how the underlying business or healthcare system works.

Medical Knowledge That Strengthens Healthcare Fraud Cases

Gallagher & Lipshutz brings a combination of legal experience and medical knowledge to healthcare fraud cases. Jeremy Lipshutz's medical background helps the firm evaluate the details that often drive Medicare, Medicaid, pharmaceutical, and hospital billing fraud cases, including records, coding patterns, clinical judgment, and the way claims are submitted for payment. That perspective matters because healthcare fraud cases often turn on technical facts that are easy to miss if they are reviewed only as billing records. The firm still evaluates each case on its evidence, its legal theory, and the government money involved.

Local Insight Into Nevada's Courts

Gallagher & Lipshutz is based in Las Vegas and handles cases involving Nevada courts, Nevada businesses, Nevada healthcare providers, and Nevada public programs. The firm understands the local legal community and handles matters in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and Nevada state courts when Nevada claims are involved. For a Nevada whistleblower, working with a local firm can matter because the case may involve local records, witnesses, agencies, providers, contractors, and court procedures. The firm also represents whistleblowers in federal False Claims Act matters beyond Nevada where the facts and law support the case.

How does a whistleblower case work in Nevada?

A False Claims Act case moves through five stages. The first three happen in secret, which is why most whistleblowers have never heard how the process works until they are in it.

Step 1: Confidential evaluation. Before anything is filed, we review what you saw, what documents you have, and whether the conduct fits the statute: a knowingly false claim for government money, or a scheme to avoid paying money owed to the government. We also check two threshold questions that can end a case before it starts. Under the first-to-file rule, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5), a second relator cannot bring a case based on the same fraud once one is pending. Under the public disclosure bar, § 3730(e)(4), a case built on facts already reported in the news, in a government audit, or in another lawsuit is barred unless the relator is an original source. This stage is privileged and costs you nothing.

Step 2: The disclosure statement and the sealed complaint. If the case is viable, we prepare two documents. The complaint is filed in federal court under seal, meaning the defendant is not served and does not know it exists. The disclosure statement, required by § 3730(b)(2), is served on the U.S. Attorney and the Attorney General with substantially all the material evidence the relator has. In a Nevada state case under NRS Chapter 357, the equivalent filing goes to the Nevada Attorney General.

Step 3: The government investigates while the case is sealed. The statute gives the government 60 days to decide whether to join, but that period is extended for good cause as a matter of routine, and investigations commonly run two to four years. During this time the relator may be interviewed, asked for more records, and asked to help the agents understand the industry. The relator must not discuss the case with anyone outside the legal team.

Step 4: Intervention or declination. When the investigation ends, the government either intervenes and takes the lead in the litigation, or declines, in which case the relator may proceed with the case on the government's behalf under § 3730(c)(3). Either way the complaint is unsealed and served, and the defendant learns of the case for the first time.

Step 5: Resolution and the relator's share. Most cases that survive to this point resolve by settlement. If the government intervened, the relator receives 15 to 25 percent of what the government recovers; if the relator carried the case after a declination, 25 to 30 percent. Both ranges are set by § 3730(d). Nevada's statute provides a share of 15 to 30 percent of the state's recovery. The relator's share is paid out of the government's recovery; the relator never pays it.

What industries do Nevada whistleblower cases come from?

Any business or institution that bills the government can be the subject of a False Claims Act case. In Nevada the cases cluster in these industries:

• Hospitals and health systems. Upcoding of inpatient stays, medically unnecessary admissions, and billing for services that were never provided or were performed by unlicensed staff.
• Nursing homes, assisted living and hospice. Billing for care that was not delivered, enrolling patients in hospice who are not terminally ill, and Medicaid claims for residents who were not eligible.
• Physician practices, clinics and laboratories. Kickbacks for referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, self-referral arrangements barred by the Stark Law, and genetic or toxicology tests ordered without a medical reason.
• Pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers. Billing for prescriptions never picked up, automatic refills the patient did not request, and switching drugs to raise reimbursement.
• Home health and personal care agencies. Visits that did not occur, forged timesheets, and services billed to Nevada Medicaid for patients who did not qualify.
• Medical device and wound care suppliers. Skin substitutes and other products billed at inflated amounts or applied without medical necessity, an area of active federal enforcement.
• Defense and government contractors. Cost mischarging and defective parts on contracts tied to Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base and the Nevada National Security Site, and false certifications of small business or veteran-owned status.
• Pandemic relief recipients. Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications with false payroll figures, false eligibility certifications, or funds spent outside the program rules.
• Colleges and career schools. Federal student aid drawn on false enrollment or attendance records, and recruiters paid on commission in violation of Title IV incentive compensation rules.
• Construction and infrastructure contractors. Prevailing wage violations on federally funded projects, substituted materials, and false progress billing on state and federal contracts.

If your industry is not on this list, that does not mean there is no case. The question is always the same: was government money paid on a claim that someone knew was false?

Who can be a whistleblower in Nevada?

Anyone with nonpublic knowledge of fraud against a government program can be a relator. The statute does not require you to be an employee of the company, a citizen, or a Nevada resident. In practice, relators are usually current or former employees who saw the billing from the inside: coders and billers, nurses and physicians, compliance officers, sales representatives, and administrators. They are also contractors and consultants who worked alongside the company, competitors who lost bids to a rival that was cheating, and patients or their families who noticed charges for care that was never given.

Two limits apply. Under the first-to-file rule, only the first relator to file on a particular fraud can share in the recovery, which is one reason to act before others do. Under the public disclosure bar, a relator whose information is already public must qualify as an original source with independent knowledge that materially adds to what was disclosed. Our page on who blows the whistle describes the most common relators and what typically happens after they come forward.

What does it cost to hire a whistleblower attorney?

Gallagher & Lipshutz handles qui tam cases on a contingency basis. There is no fee for the initial evaluation, and the firm's fee in a successful case is a percentage of the relator's share of the recovery, not a bill you pay as the case goes on. The False Claims Act also shifts fees: under 31 U.S.C. § 3730(d), a defendant that is found liable or settles must pay the relator's reasonable attorney's fees, expenses and costs on top of the recovery. If the case is declined by the government and does not succeed, no fee is owed to the firm.

You may have to pay the opposing parties' attorney fees and costs in the event of a loss.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you’ve witnessed fraud against the U.S. Government and are considering filing a qui tam case, contact our whistleblower lawyers at (702) 381-3770 for a free, confidential consultation. We represent whistleblowers throughout the Las Vegas Valley, across Nevada, and nationwide.