Personal Attention. Reliable Advice.
Jonathan Willens and Ed Scarvalone have practiced law in New York City for over 30 years, working in large and small law firms and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Our colleague Heidi Wendel has supervised False Claims Act cases for both the U.S. Attorney and the New York State Attorney General.
All of us have handled jury trials, large matters with dozens of depositions, and appellate arguments up to the United States Supreme Court. We apply our experience and strategic judgment to all of our cases.
In June 2024, the Government Settled Claims brought by Our Clients for $21 million against a Skilled Nursing Company for Defrauding Medicare.
U.S. ex rel. Rosenberger v. Strauss Ventures LLC, 19 Civ. 1311 (N.D.N.Y.)
Grand Health Care System and a dozen affiliated nursing facilities, referred to as the Grand, agreed to pay more than $21 million to settle claims that they allegedly provided and billed for fraudulent rehabilitation therapy services through TRICARE and Medicare at facilities in upstate and central New York. Supervisors allegedly charged government health care programs for “therapy services that were unreasonable, unnecessary, unskilled, or that simply did not occur as billed”. As part of the settlement, the Grand acknowledged that management-level employees extended the length of time patients were in rehabilitation therapy and fraudulently altered the length of stays for other patients in their healthcare billing system.
In July 2024, the United States and New York State Partially Settled Claims Based on our Client’s Evidence that Resulted in Two Criminal Convictions and over $1.5 million in Damages and Restitution.
U.S. ex rel. Kelly, v. City Medical Associates, P.C., 15 Civ. 7261 (S.D.N.Y.)
In the settlements, one of the principals of City Medical Associates, a cardiology and neurology clinic in New York City, admitted that he falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid for diagnostic tests that were not performed, and submitted false reimbursement claims stating that procedures were performed or supervised by physicians who, in fact, did not participate in the procedures.
In 2017, our Complaint Resulted in a $30 million Recovery for the Government.
U.S. ex rel. Gomez v. Total Call Mobile, Inc., 15 Civ. 8869 (S.D.N.Y.)
We represented a relator with inside information that a California-based telecommunications company and its affiliates knowingly overbilled the FCC’s Lifeline program over several years. Our client received a relator share under the False Claims Act. .
In 2017, a Research Institute Settled Allegations that It Used Federal Funds for Worthless Studies.
U.S. ex rel. Wendel v. NDRI, 15 Civ. 3950 (S.D.N.Y.)
After the Government declined to intervene, we resolved this important case on behalf of a prominent researcher who alleged fraud in the conduct of a National Institutes of Health grant. According to the complaint, the defendant materially changed the scope of its federally funded study while making false statements to NIH, published worthless reports in public health journals and fired the whistleblower for reporting his concerns.
Sealed Cases
Our current cases are usually sealed while they are under investigation by the Department of Justice and the New York State Attorney General. One of these cases involves alleged kickbacks paid to physicians by a pharmaceutical company.
U.S. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 21 Civ. 8007 (S.D.N.Y.)
Based on information provided by our client, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York brought an enforcement action under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) against Well Fargo Bank. In 2021, the government announced a settlement in which the bank agreed to pay over $70 million in penalties and restitution, including $35 million that the bank has already paid to its defrauded foreign exchange customers. Our client received the maximum whistleblower share allowed under the FIRREA statute.
In the settlement, Wells Fargo admitted that it defrauded over 770 customers who used the Bank’s foreign exchange services from 2010 to 2017. Most of these customers were unsophisticated business owners who entered into fixed-price agreements with the Bank expecting to pay standard fees to buy and sell foreign currency. Instead, the Bank grossly overcharged its customers and obtained millions of dollars in violation of the mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud statutes.