Relator’s Counsel Timothy J. McInnis introduced US Attorney Richard Hartunian from the Northern District of New York at the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund’s (TAFEF) 14th annual whistleblower False Claims Act (FCA) conference in Washington, D.C. Approximately 300 whistleblower lawyers from throughout the United States attended the three day conference. During his presentation US Attorney Hartunian encouraged relators’ counsel to consider filing False Claims Act Qui Tam cases with his office in the Northern District of New York, which includes, the cities of Albany, Syracuse, Binghamton and Plattsburg. He specifically mentioned being interested in FCA cases involving healthcare, Medicaid, defense contracting and other types of government program fraud. US Attorney Hartunian emphasized that his office would be interested in cases of all sizes, even ones involving less than one million dollars in losses. He said this is because he is concerned not only with the amount of recoveries but also other important factors, such as patient safety and care and harm to US military personnel.
