Robert Salcido

Robert S. Salcido represents clients in FCA and qui tam litigation and provides counseling regarding the application of health care fraud and abuse laws. As lead counsel, he has successfully defended a number of FCA actions by obtaining the dismissal of the lawsuit on appeal, at trial, at summary judgment and at the pleading stage.

Robert has authored books and multiple articles, including several cited in court decisions, regarding the FCA and health care fraud and abuse laws. Robert has lectured extensively on defenses to FCA actions; health care coding compliance;and FCA whistleblower litigation, including national conferences sponsored by the American Bar Association, the American Health Lawyers Association and the Health Care Compliance Association.

Prior to joining Akin Gump, Robert was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Fraud Unit from 1988 to 1993. He prosecuted cases under the FCA, handled cases under the FCA’s voluntary disclosure provisions and concentrated on whistleblower actions brought under the qui tam provisions of the FCA.

Click here for a full list of Robert’s written works.

Experience:

• Has authored an extensive (975 pages) FCA treatise and more than 20 articles and spoken at more than 60 conferences regarding the scope and application of the FCA and health care fraud and abuse laws
• Is routinely listed as a leading practitioner in major legal rankings.
• Represents Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofit health care systems and executives in responding to governmental civil and criminal investigations.
• Is one of the few lawyers who has successfully litigated multiple False Claims Act (FCA) actions against the government at trial and at summary judgment.

Representative Work:

• Represented defendants, an operator of a chain of skilled nursing companies and a rehabilitation company, during a five-week FCA jury trial. Based upon the trial record, the district court entered judgment for the defendants ruling that the relator did not establish FCA materiality at trial as a matter of law. Reported Decision: United States ex rel. Ruckh v. Salus Rehab., LLC, 304 F. Supp. 3d 1258 (M.D. Fla. 2018),
• Represented Golden Living in an FCA action where the federal government had sued Golden Living’s predecessor company, Beverly Enterprises, for
  $895 million, alleging that Beverly had engaged in an unlawful kickback scheme with McKesson Corp. in violation of the Anti-Kickback Act and the FCA. After 14 days of trial, the court ruled that Beverly and McKesson did not violate the FCA or the
  Anti-Kickback Act because their business negotiations were fair, reasonable and conducted in good faith.

Education:

• J.D., Harvard Law School, 1988
• B.A., Claremont McKenna College, 1984

Bar Admissions:

• District of Columbia