A principal in the False Claims Act and Civil Litigation departments, Veronica Nannis is a seasoned litigator who fights fraud. She proudly represents whistleblowers, including the one who led the United States government to the largest Stark-based healthcare settlement in history – a record $345 million – against a major hospital system.
For more than 17 years, clients have turned to Veronica to protect them while exposing fraud. Veronica leads a team that files suit under the False Claims Act in federal courts all over the country, focusing on health care fraud and various illegal kickback schemes. She relentlessly pursues fraud cases and protects her clients above all else.
False Claims Act cases (aka qui tams) can be filed in a variety of states. Veronica has had qui tams in a dozen different states and works with a range of different US Attorney’s offices, numerous states Attorneys General and the Department of Justice to prosecute fraud all over the country.
Her whistleblower clients are individuals with whom she forges a strong relationship. These are employees or former employees with insider knowledge of fraud. In healthcare cases, these insiders are often sales representatives, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, home health aides, auditors, billing specialists or compliance officers. Despite reporting fraud internally, most employees cannot stop fraud on their own. Moreover, they are usually penalized for speaking up, fired, or otherwise retaliated against.
Veronica’s clients are put in compromising positions. Faced with the choice of knowingly participating in fraud (putting reputations and licenses at risk, or even facing criminal consequences), burying their heads in the sand, or reporting the fraud, a brave few choose to report. That is when they need an experienced FCA attorney who will prosecute fraud while protecting the whistleblower.
Fraud schemes run the gamut, but some of the typical healthcare schemes include:
- Paying kickbacks, referral fees or quid pro quo arrangements in violation of the Stark Law or Anti-Kickback Statute;
- Up-coding or wrongful coding to increase reimbursement;
- Falsifying records, symptoms, tests, services or diagnoses to secure or increase government payer reimbursement;
- Providing services to ineligible Medicare or Medicaid patients;
- Providing unnecessary and unreasonable medical services (medical necessity fraud);
- Upping RUG rates or HHRG scores to inflate Medicare payments;
- Billing for services that were not provided; and
- False and off-label marketing and promotion.
Another area of interest for Veronica is fraud cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether CAREs Act fraud, Covid testing fraud, or other fraud, these schemes occurred around the country and continue to wreak havoc. The government is investigating and prioritizing these cases. The first COVID-related civil fraud settlement was announced in January 2021. Dozens more are under way now. JGL is leading some of these important public health fraud cases.
Lastly, Veronica also fights fraud through class action cases.
On April 29, 2019, the federal court in Maryland named Veronica to the Consumer Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (“PSC”) in the multi-district class action: In re Marriott Int’l Customer Data Security Breach Litig., D. Md. MDL No. 19-md-2879. This is the largest data breach class action ever brought in the country, effecting more than 300 million Marriott and Starwood customers. The Court selected Veronica to serve as Consumer Plaintiffs’ Co-Liaison Counsel from hundreds of attorneys nationwide who sought leadership positions in this record-breaking litigation. The case is on-going.
Honors
Benchmark Litigation USA: Future Star, 2025
The Best Lawyers in America®, 2026–2027
Finalist for National Law Journal’s 2025 Elite Trial Lawyers Awards
Trial Lawyer of the Year, Maryland Association for Justice, 2011
Maryland Super Lawyers®, 2025Super Lawyers® Rising Star, 2012–2016
Media
“Thinking of blowing the whistle? Actions to take, pitfalls to avoid,” Federal News Network, 2026
Quoted in “Painful Reality – When In-House Counsel Blow The Whistle,” Law360, 2026
Quoted in “Trump’s FCA Expansion Plan Heightens Compliance Risk,” Law360, 2026
Veronica Nannis Examines False Claims Act Trends from 2025
False Claims Act 2025 Update
“Examining DOJ Corporate Whistleblower Pilot’s First 100 Days,” Law360, 2024
“What to Know (and Do) About DOJ’s Efforts to Identify and Prosecute Cybersecurity Fraud Under the False Claims Act,” Anti-Corruption Report, 2024
“What to Know (and Do) About DOJ’s Efforts to Identify and Prosecute Cybersecurity Fraud Under the False Claims Act,” Cybersecurity Law Report, 2024
“Fraud in academia: How can universities avoid costly litigation?,” University Business, 2024
Quoted in “‘Filling the gaps’: MD lawyers weigh in on new federal whistleblowers program,” The Daily Record, 2024
“When A Whistleblower Walks In …,” Maryland Association for Justice, Trial Reporter, 2020
“EEOC Updates Its Pandemic EEO Guidance,” JGL Blog, 2020
“U.S. Attorney’s Offices Announce Investigations into COVID-19 Scams,” JGL Blog, 2020
“What is a Whistleblower?” JGL Blog, June 2019
“When Health Care Fraud Turns Criminal,” JGL Blog, 2017
“Big Business and Hollywood rack up major win in unpaid intern case: The Second Circuit applies a “primary beneficiary test” for interns, reversing the lower court and rejecting the Department of Labor’s published guidance as outdated,” JGL Blog, 2015
“Employers May Pay Dearly for their Unpaid Internships,” Law 360, 2014
“What Effect Will United States v. Caronia Have On Civil Off-Label Cases?,” American Bar Association Health eSource, 2013
Speaking Engagements
“Litigating False Claims Act Cases,” Moderator, Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF) Coalition’s 25th Annual Conference, 2025
“Could My Client Be A Whistleblower?” Webinar, Panelist, Maryland Association for Justice (MAJ), 2023
“Strategies for Pleading and Proving Knowledge” Presentation, Panelist, Taxpayers Against Fraud annual meeting, 2022
