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ABOUT VAQUITAMLAW.COM

Nov 2008 cover story in Virginia Lawyers Weekly

 

My name is Zachary Kitts and I am a partner at K&G Law Group, PLLC, a boutique law firm in Northern Virginia.  VaQuiTamLaw.com was the first blog on Virginia whistleblowers and qui tam litigation under the federal False Claims Act and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.

I founded this blog in February of 2008 in order to generate interest in the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, (Va. Code §8.01-216.1) and qui tam litigation in Virginia generally.  At that time, in 2008, no one in the Commonwealth seemed to have much interest in the VFATA (which is also known as the Virginia False Claims Act).

I started practicing in the area of qui tam/false claims act litigation in 2003, the same year the Virginia General Assembly passed the VFATA.  I prosecuted the first non-health care, non-intervened, qui tam claim under the statute, and as I prepared the case I went looking for resources on the internet about VFATA…and when I was unable to find anything I decided to go ahead and create what I was looking for.

That case — Commonwealth of Virginia ex rel. Nisar Siddiqui v. Navy Federal Credit Union, et al. — was, until January of 2016, the largest non-health care recovery under the Virginia False Claims Act.  I have also handled other groundbreaking Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act cases including Commonwealth of Virginia ex rel. FX Analytics v. Bank of New York Mellon and Lewis v. City of Alexandria.

Perhaps because I was (or seemed to be) the only lawyer interested in the statute at the time, in 2008 I was asked to present a seminar on VFATA to the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, which I re-published into a e-book now in its second edition.

I was also asked to assist the Virginia OAG with legislative amendments on several occasions, including the comprehensive 2011 amendments to the law as well as several minor amendments to the statute.  My experience with state false claims act legislation has caused legislators from numerous states to ask for my input and testimony on state FCA laws.  I have written numerous articles on the topic of false claims act litigation, including a chapter on qui tam for the two-volume publication Employment Law in Virginia.

Over the past eight years this blog has become a labor of love, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.  Along those lines, if there is a question you would like to see addressed, please let me know.  Feedback is also welcome at all times.

 

K&G Law Group is a boutique-style law firm based in Nothern Virginia and practicing nationwide