Discovery in FCA litigation: Building Bridges to and Avoiding Pitfalls (Presented by the Federal Bar Association’s 2026 Qui Tam Conference sponsor Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP.)

Pamela Coyle Brecht, Esq., Partner & Chair | Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP

Pamela Coyle Brecht is a Partner at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP and Chair of the firm’s national Qui Tam/False Claims Act Practice Group. With 30 years of experience, she has litigated many of the most complex False Claims Act cases filed in the United States — including FCA violations by three of the largest hospital corporations in the country, Medicaid managed care fraud, Medicare Part C and D fraud, pharmaceutical and laboratory fraud, medical device allegations, government contractor fraud, and intricate Stark and Anti-Kickback matters. She has been involved in the recovery of over $406.5 million for state and federal taxpayers. One of her whistleblower matters — Lutz v. Health Diagnostics Laboratory — was recognized by the National Law Journal in 2018 as one of its Top 100 Verdicts, ranking #39 nationally and #2 in Pennsylvania. Ms. Brecht has also served as an expert witness in matters involving potential exposure to government enforcement actions. She earned her J.D. from Temple University School of Law, where she served on Temple Law Review and graduated on the Dean’s List with honors for Distinguished Class Performance, and her B.A., cum laude, from Villanova University, where she competed on the Women’s Crew Team.

Education & Credentials

• Ms. Brecht holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Villanova University, where she was a competitive rower on the Women’s Crew Team, and a Juris Doctor from Temple University School of Law, where she graduated on the Dean’s List, received honors for Distinguished Class Performance, and served on Temple Law Review. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. She holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating — the highest available to any individual lawyer in both legal ability and ethical standards. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Hamline University School of Law and as a lecturer at Seton Hall University School of Law, where she has taught a course on health care fraud.

Recognition & Leadership

• Ms. Brecht has been recognized by Chambers USA in 2024 and 2025 in the area of False Claims Act: Plaintiff, USA-Nationwide — one of the most competitive and selective rankings in plaintiff-side FCA practice. She appears in the 2025 and 2026 editions of Best Lawyers in America for Qui Tam Law and Health Care Law, and holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating. In 2019, the Philadelphia Business Journal selected her in their ‘Best of the Bar’ Awards for distinguished performance in White-Collar Defense Litigation. She has served as a Hearing Committee Member for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, reflecting professional recognition of her ethical leadership as well as her legal excellence.

Professional Involvement

• Ms. Brecht is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association Qui Tam Section, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Brehon Law Society, and the Justinian Law Society, and serves on the Advisory Board of the FBA’s Qui Tam Section. She is a prolific national speaker, frequently presenting at the Federal Bar Association’s annual Qui Tam Conference, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Health Law Institute, the Health Care Compliance Association, the American Conference Institute, and the American Bar Association on topics spanning FCA pleading, managed care fraud, private equity in health care, laboratory fraud, whistleblower retaliation, and international whistleblowing legislation. She has published extensively in Compliance Today, The Federal Lawyer, CEP Magazine, the Bench & Bar of Minnesota, and The Legal Intelligencer, including multi-part series on comparative American, Italian, and French healthcare fraud laws and a comprehensive analysis of international whistleblowing legislation.

Experience

• Pamela Brecht’s 30-year False Claims Act practice has produced some of the most significant plaintiff-side recoveries in the country. Her casework has resulted in recoveries including a $114 million recovery in United States v. BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, a $74.5 million recovery in United States ex rel. Mason, Folstad, and MEMA v. HMA (believed to be the largest resolution of private relator claims stemming from retaliation), a $55 million recovery in United States ex rel. Miller & Metts v. HMA, a $47 million recovery in Lutz v. Health Diagnostic Laboratory (recognized by the National Law Journal as a Top 100 Verdict), and six additional eight-figure recoveries. Her practice spans the full FCA landscape — from hospital and emergency room fraud to pharmaceutical, laboratory, Medicare managed care, and government contractor matters — and her expertise as both a plaintiff advocate and expert witness in government enforcement exposure matters makes her one of the most versatile and consequential FCA practitioners in the country.

Marc Stephen Raspanti, Esq., Partner & Founder | Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP

Marc Stephen Raspanti is a Partner at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP and a seasoned trial lawyer with over 41 years of experience in government enforcement, compliance, internal investigations, white collar litigation, False Claims Act/qui tam litigation, criminal and civil health care fraud, and complex commercial litigation. Chambers USA has ranked him Band 1 in both Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Pennsylvania and False Claims Act: Plaintiff, USA-Nationwide — among the most competitive dual rankings in the country. He is a longstanding Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a founder of the firm’s national Qui Tam & False Claims Act practice group and its White Collar Criminal Defense practice group, and a former Assistant District Attorney at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. On the plaintiff side, he has been involved in the recovery of over $2.6 billion for state and federal taxpayers. On the defense side, he has tried and resolved some of the most complex white collar criminal and FCA defense matters in the country, including a four-month jury trial defending a General Electric executive in one of the longest white collar criminal trials in Pennsylvania history.

Education & Credentials

• Mr. Raspanti received his legal education and built his foundational courtroom experience as a former Assistant District Attorney at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where he tried a wide range of criminal cases to verdict. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New York, before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania and the Southern District of New York. He holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating and has been named by Philadelphia Magazine as one of the best white collar criminal defense lawyers in Philadelphia.

Recognition & Leadership

• Mr. Raspanti’s recognition is among the most distinguished in both white collar defense and qui tam litigation. Chambers USA ranks him Band 1 in White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Pennsylvania and Band 1 in False Claims Act: Plaintiff, USA-Nationwide — an extraordinary dual placement that reflects his standing as a premier practitioner on both sides of the FCA docket. He has been selected annually as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer since 2004, named to the Top 100 in Pennsylvania and Top 100 in Philadelphia by Super Lawyers, and recognized in Best Lawyers in America annually since 2006 in Qui Tam Law, Health Care Law, Corporate Compliance Law, and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. He was named ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Philadelphia Health Care for 2018 and 2024, and is recognized in the 2026 Legal 500 as a Tier 1 lawyer for White-Collar Crime in Philadelphia. In 2016, he received the prestigious Cesare Beccaria Award from the Justinian Society of Philadelphia and the Criminal Justice Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers — an invitation-only fellowship limited to pre-eminent trial lawyers in the United States and Canada.

Professional Involvement

• Mr. Raspanti is a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, the Federal Bar Association’s Qui Tam Section, and the National Italian American Foundation. Within the ABA, he serves as National Co-Chair of the Criminal Justice Section White Collar Sub-Committee on Qui Tam Litigation. He was appointed to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday’s Transition Committee (Criminal Defense Subcommittee), served as the criminal defense representative on the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (2007–2010), served as a Commissioner on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and served for six years on the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board (appointed under recommendation from the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court) and six prior years as a Philadelphia Disciplinary Hearing Committee Member and Special Master. He has published extensively in Chambers USA, the Cardozo Law Review, the Tulane Law Review, the St. John’s Law Review, Temple Law Review, NACDL The Champion, Compliance Today, and the American Health Law Association, and is a sought-after mediator and expert witness in complex FCA matters.

Experience

• Marc Raspanti’s 41-year career spans two of the most demanding fields in federal litigation — white collar criminal defense and False Claims Act advocacy — with a record of achievement on both sides of the docket that is virtually unmatched in the Philadelphia bar and recognized nationally. His plaintiff-side recoveries include a $389 million recovery in United States ex rel. Epp v. Supreme Foodservice AG, a $334 million recovery in United States ex rel. Merena v. SmithKline Beecham, a $265 million recovery in United States ex rel. Monahan v. St. Barnabas Health System, a $185 million recovery in United States ex rel. Hunt v. Merck-Medco, and more than a dozen additional recoveries totaling over $2.6 billion for state and federal taxpayers. On the defense side, he obtained a full acquittal after a lengthy federal jury trial of a dermatologist charged with 79 counts of health care fraud, and defended a General Electric executive through one of the longest and most complex white collar criminal trials in Pennsylvania history. His dual Band 1 Chambers rankings, ACTL fellowship, gubernatorial appointments, Cesare Beccaria Award, and decades of national speaking and publication record collectively define a career that has shaped the practice of FCA and white collar law in Pennsylvania and across the country.

SESSION 1 – Plan for Discovery | 2:00pm – 2:25pm

Effective FCA discovery begins at filing. Attorneys must draft CIDs, select key custodians, build targeted search terms, preserve metadata, and insist on native documents — catching gaps like missing attachments and improper de-duplication before they become fatal record deficiencies.

SESSION 2 – Challenge the Privilege Log | 2:25pm – 2:35pm

Boilerplate privilege designations marking every communication as litigation-protected demand early, aggressive challenge. Attorneys who scrutinize logs during and after unsealing expose improperly withheld documents that can fundamentally shift the evidentiary landscape in their client’s favor.

SESSION 3 – Deposition Selection Strategy | 2:35pm – 2:45pm

With strict discovery limits, every deposition choice carries outsized consequence. Attorneys must strategically prioritize individual witnesses and 30(b)(6) designees — and never overlook contractors, whose testimony can fill critical gaps that corporate witnesses are unwilling or unable to address.

SESSION 4 – Touhy Requests | 2:45pm – 3:00pm

Government interviews conducted close in time to the underlying events often contain the most reliable witness accounts. Attorneys must understand when and how to compel disclosure of those interviews through Touhy requests before that firsthand testimony becomes permanently inaccessible.