White Collar Criminal Defense and Internal Corporate Investigations

Representing physician in two federal criminal investigations into Medicare fraud and Anti-Kickback Statute violations in the Skilled Nursing Facility and Home Health Agency industries. The representation has focused on the legal framework around allowable versus illegal referrals and medical directorships.

Represented former medical insurance reimbursement director and current Chief Medical Officer of company which markets a molecular diagnostic test in the cardiology and heart disease space. Parallel criminal and civil federal investigations, and state insurance investigation, occurring 2016-2017 (criminal probe complete as of April 2017, remainder ongoing). Investigations relate to Medicare and private payor reimbursement and health insurance issues, as well as the clinical data supporting the diagnostic test.

Successfully represented health care providers in connection with a California Attorney General’s Office investigation related to the providers’ participation in a pharmaceutical company’s speaker’s program while they also prescribed its medications.

Counsel to C-suite executives in False Claims Act litigation related to a biotech company’s product efficacy and alleged fraud, as well as employment-related claims.

Representing several key executives and numerous employees in the Yahoo Cyber Breach investigation (client identities confidential) and follow-on regulatory and criminal investigations. This investigation involves possibly the most significant data breach in history. In addition to a recently concluded internal investigation by a special committee of Yahoo’s Board, Yahoo and its individuals are under investigation by the SEC, DOJ, and FTC, and are subject to dozens of civil lawsuits, as a result of allegations that some employees at the company knew about the data breach in 2014 and failed to escalate that information appropriately. As lead counsel for the Yahoo individuals in this high profile white collar matter, the Farella team is addressing some of the most complex and evolving white collar defense issues of the present day.

Representing former Uber Information Security lead in internal and follow-on investigations regarding several alleged un-reported cyber breaches.

Represented committee of the Board of Directors of non-public clean energy start-up in surgical-scope investigation regarding whistleblower allegations of potential False Claims Act and various other violations.  Acquired an in-depth understanding of technical representations made by various executives in order to evaluate weight of whistleblower allegations.  Conducted narrow scope of interviews of executives and board members and reviewed focused set of e-mail communications.

Represented current CFO of a publicly traded company in connection with internal disputes and issues with regard to public filings and SEC inquiries.

Represented immigration attorney in SEC investigation regarding Regional Center marketing activities in the EB5 visa context. 

Represented large-scale privately held broker-dealer in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investigation regarding business development and cost sharing activities.   

Represented Korean, Japanese, and United States targets in twelve separate federal U.S. DOJ antitrust price-fixing investigations (and parallel civil cases) in the DRAM, SRAM, airline, air cargo, LCD, wire harness, CRT, ODD and auto parts industries. 

Represented an executive in a federal criminal investigation in the Midwest regarding allegations of tainted, mislabeled pet food ingredients being sold into the manufacturing process.  Matter involves some of the largest pet food companies in the U.S. and has industry-altering implications.

Represented two board members of a publicly traded bio-tech company throughout internal, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Department of Justice investigations. 

On behalf of the Audit Committee, we conducted an internal investigation for a local, public pharma company into expense-charge irregularities involving senior executives, which included advice on remedial measures to improve internal procedures and controls around expenses.