Seyfarth Shaw Launches Fraud & Abuse, False Claims and Internal Investigations Team

Contacts: 
Brian Kiefer, Director of Public Relations
(312) 460-6401, bkiefer@seyfarth.com

Ivette Delgado, Senior Public Relations Associate
(212) 218-5273, idelgado@seyfarth.com

CHICAGO (June 25, 2012) — Leading law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today the launch of its Fraud & Abuse, False Claims and Internal Investigations Team, which provides its broad client base, including health care and defense service contractor clients, with cutting-edge counsel in the rapidly expanding and complex area of federal and state fraud and abuse, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and litigation.

Under intense scrutiny, clients in several industries, including the health care and government contractor industries, face a challenging environment that saw the Justice Department recover a record $5.6 billion in fraud proceeds in 2011, combined with more than 30 states that now have their own false claims statutes.

In order to navigate these issues and better defend clients, Seyfarth’s Fraud & Abuse, False Claims and Internal Investigations Team is comprised of 35 attorneys drawn from across the firm with the skills and experience to represent health care and government contractor clients, among others, which face an onslaught of audits, investigations and litigation.

Combining the firm’s skills in regulatory analysis, false claims, white collar crime, corporate internal investigations and trials, Team co-leaders Frank Burke and Don Featherstun believe Seyfarth is poised to serve clients more effectively.

“By leveraging our decades of experience successfully defending clients in these types of complex civil and criminal proceedings, our team is uniquely positioned to serve clients,” said Featherstun, who has handled a number of high-profile government contract disputes throughout his career. He is also a former chair of the Public Contract Law section of the American Bar Association.

“Clients ensnared by today’s expansive patchwork of federal and state fraud regulations and litigation require the most sophisticated counsel available, and our team covers all the bases,” explained Burke, a former Assistant United States Attorney. “Our innovative SeyfarthLean tools also provide clients with unparalleled value, cost control and predictability in managing these sophisticated matters.”

Members of Seyfarth’s Fraud & Abuse, False Claims and Internal Investigations Team have successfully defended clients in a wide range of complicated federal and state fraud and abuse investigations and enforcement proceedings, as well as qui tam actions brought by the government and private entities in a variety of industries, including health care, defense and service contractors, financial services firms and accounting. With 35 attorneys across the country, they will focus on defending clients from a cross-section of key practices and sectors in the following areas:

• False Claims: Federal and state false claims matters and qui tam whistleblower actions as well as corporations and individuals in criminal procurement fraud investigations.
   
• Corporate Internal Investigations: Corporate and individual clients in investigations initiated by federal and state law enforcement, including agency and grand jury investigations.
   
• White Collar Criminal Defense and Fraud Prevention: Corporate and individual investigations and prosecutions by the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and federal and state prosecutors.
   
• Health Care Audits and Investigations: Health and welfare plans, hospitals and medical care providers in health care fraud and abuse matters, anti-kickback law, antitrust, Stark Law compliance, overpayment regulations and other aspects of health care law.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 800 attorneys located in 10 offices throughout the United States, including: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as well as internationally in London. Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation, corporate and real estate. The firm’s clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, and our practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the economy. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com .