David Colapinto is a nationally recognized advocate for whistleblowers specializing in qui tam False Claims Act cases and other whistleblower reward claims before the SEC, CFTC, IRS and FinCen.
Among his accomplishments, Mr. Colapinto was lead counsel for one of the whistleblowers in a major qui tam False Claims Act case alleging that the drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb paid kickbacks to medical providers. The case helped recover more than $500 million for U.S. taxpayers and the government paid more than $50 million to all of the whistleblowers involved in the case.
Mr. Colapinto has been consistently recognized by his peers as a leading whistleblower attorney, repeatedly earning honors such as Washingtonian Top Lawyers, LawDragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent rating.
Mr. Colapinto is lead attorney for the whistleblower in a major biofuels fraud case which was the first case filed under three whistleblower award statutes (SEC, IRS and False Claims Act). After 8 years of litigation Mr. Colapinto obtained a $69 million judgment against most of the defendants in the False Claims Act lawsuit. Additionally, the SEC brought a securities fraud case based on the whistleblower’s allegations which resulted in a settlement of millions of dollars. As a result of the government’s successful enforcement actions, Mr. Colapinto obtained for his client a SEC whistleblower award of 30% of the amounts collected in the SEC and related criminal actions (the maximum award amount under the SEC Whistleblower Program).
Mr. Colapinto was co-counsel for UBS bank whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, helping to obtain the largest ever tax whistleblower award ($104 million) for Mr. Birkenfeld in 2012.
He has also successfully handled many other cases under the False Claims Act and other whistleblower award laws resulting in millions of dollars in recoveries for taxpayers and whistleblowers.
Mr. Colapinto has obtained False Claims Act recoveries for whistleblowers alleging a wide variety of fraud, including allegations of wrongful foreclosures on residential mortgages, illegal recruiting of students at a private, for-profit university, Iraq War contracting fraud, double-billing of the government for labor and parts, Buy America Act violations, and wrongful foreclosures on residential mortgages.
He also has a long track record of successful representation of government and private sector employees in whistleblower retaliation cases. For example, Mr. Colapinto successfully represented Dr. Fredric Whitehurst, the FBI lab forensics expert who suffered retaliation after reporting serious misconduct and poor lab practices at the FBI which resulted in significant reforms at the FBI crime lab as well as a record $1.6 million settlement for the whistleblower in 1998. As a direct result of the Whitehurst v. FBI case, President Clinton also ordered the Attorney General to implement the FBI whistleblower statute.
Mr. Colapinto is a founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP, where he has represented whistleblowers for more than 30 years. He is also a co-founder of the National Whistleblower Center, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, where he currently serves pro bono as general counsel.
- 2023 – 2024 – The Best Lawyers in America®
- 2013-2024 – AV Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell®
- 2019 – 2024 - LawDragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
- 2007, 2009, 2011-2022 – Washingtonian Top Lawyers
- 2014 – “Elite Trial Lawyers” Designation, National Law Journal (Awarded to KKC LLP)
- 2014 – America’s Most Honored Professionals, American Registry (Awarded to KKC LLP)
- 2009 – Top Attorneys, Washington DC Super Lawyers (Awarded to KKC LLP)
- 2008 – Friend of the IEEE Award
- 2003 – “Hot List” of Plantiff’s Law Firms, National Law Journal
Media Appearances
BBC, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, C-SPAN, MSNBC, FOX, RT, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time Magazine, National Law Journal, and Vanity Fair.
- Fired by USAID, USDA or Other Federal Agencies? (March 2025)
- U.S. Attorney Office “Whistleblower” Programs Sow Confusion and Pose Risks to Corporate Whistleblowers NYU Compliance and Enforcement Blog (November 2024)
- Supreme Court Seems Poised to Support Whistleblower in E-Rate False Claims Act Case National Law Review (November 2024)
- How Justices' E-Rate Decision May Affect Scope Of FCA Law360 (August 2024)
- DC Circuit Decision Upholds Whistleblower Confidentiality to Protect IRS Whistleblowers from Retaliatory FOIAs JD Supra (August 2022)
- Bloomberg Law Whistleblower Investigation Is Hampered by Undisclosed Conflicts and Bias JD Supra (July 2022)
- Supreme Court to Review DOJ’s Authority to Dismiss False Claims Act Whistleblower Suits JD Supra (June 2022)
- New House Whistleblower Rule Sends A Strong Message National Law Review (January 2021)
- Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004) (co-authored with Michael Kohn and Stephen M, Kohn). The Guide was highly praised by the two principle co-sponsors of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate whistleblower law.
- Environmental Whistleblowers and the Eleventh Amendment: Employee Protection or State Immunity, 15 Tulane Environmental Law Journal 43 (Winter, 2001) (co-author).
- Numerous national and international media and public speaking appearances, including formal Congressional testimony and other presentations.
2024
March 20, 2024: TAF Anti-Fraud Coalition 2024 Financial Fraud Conference; Austin, TX.
2023
Whistleblower Awareness Week 2023, Parliamentary Sessions on Whistleblowing
2020
Oversight Hearing
David Colapinto testified about the need to clarify the rules on confidentiality and provide employees with the same remedies available to whistleblowers in the private sector.
2018
IVLP State Department, "Transparency and Accountability." (David Colapinto, NWC Founder and General Counsel; Maya Efrati, NWC Legal Fellow)
2013
CNBC-TV18
David Colapinto Featured on Program Discussing SEC’s Whistleblower Policy
2010
“Your Call” Radio Show
David Colapinto participated in an on-air panel discussing the lack of protection that exists for whistleblowers defending the public interest.
2009
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (May 14, 2009), David Colapinto of the National Whistleblowers Center explained how all federal employees, including those working in national security, have access to jury trials for claims of race, gender, religion and national origin discrimination.
What Clients are Saying
“Among the most experienced and skilled attorneys practicing in the specialization of whistleblower law”
“I couldn’t have navigated the shark invested waters whistleblower face without the passion, dedication, determination, and brilliance of my incredible attorneys.”
“…the three co-founders of the National Whistleblower Center, these are important names, Stephen Kohn, Michael Kohn and David Colapinto, thank you so much for all that you do, they broke the mold with these visionaries and we are all better for it.” – National Whistleblower Day, 2018
Our Client Received the Largest Whistleblower Reward in World History of $104 Million
Bradley Birkenfeld broke the back of Swiss bank secrecy. He was the first Swiss banker to file a case under the IRS whistleblower law. The results were unprecedented. UBS bank (at the time the largest bank in the world) had to pay a fine of $780 million. They also had to close all known U.S. accounts, and for the first time in history, the bank turned over the names of 4450 U.S. taxpayers for prosecution in the United States. Mr. Birkenfeld obtained the largest ever individual qui tam whistleblower award in history, $104 million.
