Todd Yoder’s practice focuses on representing qui tam whistleblowers in both federal litigation and whistleblower reward programs. In February 2020, Todd argued the precedent setting case of Barko v. KBR before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often regarded as the second most powerful court in the United States, behind the Supreme Court. Todd obtained a unanimous ruling on behalf of the whistleblower, and set nation-wide precedent limiting the ability of corporations to force whistleblowers (and other victims of employment discrimination) to pay exorbitant “costs” in lawsuits heard in federal court.
Todd specializes in representing qui tam relators in False Claims Act cases involving a wide range of industries, including healthcare, procurement, and set-aside government contracting. Additionally, Todd possesses vast experience in handling whistleblower claims reporting tax fraud, securities fraud, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations with the whistleblower programs of the IRS and SEC. Todd takes extraordinary pride in helping his clients expose illegal conduct and ensuring all culpable parties are held responsible. He has been instrumental in securing both equitable and monetary victories for whistleblowers.
Before joining Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto as an associate in 2016, Todd previously served as a law clerk for the National Whistleblower Center in 2014. He received his JD, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2016.
Promoting International Qui Tam Whistleblowing
Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto has played an instrumental role in advancing whistleblower rights worldwide. Currently the partners represent whistleblowers from every continent on earth (except Antarctica) in pursuing whistleblower reward cases under U.S. laws.
Steve Kohn has been sponsored by the U.S. Department of State to promote whistleblowing on a world-wide scale, including special seminars and programs in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia and Thailand. He has given major keynote addresses in Peru and Greece and presented in numerous international conferences and has testified on behalf of whistleblowers before the European Parliament and the Danish Parliament. Mike Kohn has made major international presentations in Poland, South Korea and Israel. The firm filed extensive comments supporting greater whistleblower protections in the now-approved European Directive on Whistleblowing.
Whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn and partners of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto regularly advise congress on crafting whistleblower laws. And play an instrumental role in drafting whistleblower protection laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act.
SEC & IRS Rulemaking
During the Dodd-Frank rulemaking process, our partners worked closely with the SEC to create an effective whistleblower program. Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s partners met personally with each of the five SEC Commissioners. They presented them with detailed reports and proposals setting forth rules that were essential to make the law work for Dodd-Frank whistleblowers as intended by Congress. Furthermore, Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s whistleblower attorneys seek to protect and enhance legal protections for tax fraud whistleblowers. Our firm has filed numerous internal revenue service rulemaking petitions, filed extensive briefs to the IRS and testified at IRS rulemaking hearsing to strengthen the tax whistleblower program.
[Read More]In recognition of the growing importance of whistleblower litigation, The National Law Journal named the whistleblower attorney and advocacy law firm of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto as one of top fifty plaintiff’s law firms in the United States. The firm’s partners were officially named as among “America’s Elite Trial Lawyers.” In its September 29, 2014 article, “Elite Trial Lawyers: The 50 Leading Plaintiff’s Firms in America,” the National Law Journal named Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto as one of the firm’s “doing the most creative and most important work in the courtroom.”
- 2013-2020 – A-V Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell®
- 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
- United States ex rel. Barko v. Halliburton Co., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 9615 (D.C. Cir. 2020) (argued) — On appeal before the D.C. Circuit, successfully overturned lower court ruling which taxed over $58,000 in e-discovery costs against whistleblower Harry Barko in his False Claims Act case against KBR. The decision set critical precedent in the D.C. Circuit which shields plaintiffs in whistleblower, civil rights, employment, and other cases from being obligated to pay defendants’ often massive e-discovery bills.
- U.S. ex rel. Chepurko v. E-Biofuels, LLC, No. 1:14-cv-00377-TWP-MJD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76075 (S.D. Ind. Apr. 30, 2020) — Substantially assisted in securing a $69,610,999 summary judgment ruling in favor of the relator and United States for False Claims Act violations related to a massive fraudulent bio-diesel manufacturing scheme.
What Clients are Saying
“Todd argued my case against KBR before one of the highest court’s in the land. He won. That says it all.”
Todd’s Latest Thinking
United States Intervenes and Settles Qui Tam False Claims Act Case Against Compound Pharmacies for $426,000
Last week brought a partial resolution to a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) case filed by an anonymous whistleblower. As announced by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the United States Government both intervened and settled the case with two pharmacies and their owners last Thursday. FPR Specialty Pharmacy LLC and Mead Square Pharmacy, Inc., both located in Victor, New York, along with their owners Christopher Casey and William Rue (collectively “Defendants”), accepted responsibility for violations of the FCA and Anti-Kickback Statute. These violations related to the Defendants’ sales of compound prescription drugs to federal healthcare program beneficiaries. The Defendants agreed to pay $426,000 to settle all claims. The calculation of the settlement amount came after a review of the Defendants’ ability to pay. The actual damages the Defendants would have been liable for were most likely much larger. Under the FCA, the ...
Reverse Mortgage Company Settles False Claims Act Probe for $2.47 Million
A False Claims Act (“FCA”) probe, jointly conducted by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), has settled with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based mortgage company Finance of America Reverse for $2.47 million. The investigation centered around the business practices of Urban Financial Group, Inc. (“Urban Financial”), which Finance of America Reverse acquired in November 2013. Urban Financial allegedly flouted numerous material HUD-imposed regulations when providing Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, which were insured through HUD’s Federal Housing Administration using federal tax dollars. The settlement resolves any potential FCA liability before any formal complaint was filed in the federal court. Of the total settlement amount, $1.97 million was allocated to resolve potential FCA liability, and the remaining $500,000 settled Finance of America Reverse’s administrative liabilities to HUD. The Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) oversees the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, which allows senior citizens over age 62 to obtain ...
Jury Verdict in Qui Tam False Claims Act Medicare Fraud Case Finds Nearly $11 Million in Damages
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced last Friday that after a nine-week trial, a federal jury sitting in Gulfport, Mississippi found several individual and corporate defendants guilty of submitting false claims to Medicare totaling $10.85 million. The DOJ described the case as “one of the most egregious cases of Medicare fraud” it has litigated in Mississippi. The case centered on millions in fraudulent Medicare reimbursement for the compensation for individuals who purportedly ran a small critical access hospital in rural Mississippi, when in fact, those individuals did little to no work for the hospital. The fraud was brought to DOJ’s attention by whistleblower James Aldridge through the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), a federal statute aimed at recovering all fraudulently paid out federal taxpayer dollars. Under these qui tam provisions, private citizens can file lawsuits on behalf of the Government when they are aware of fraudulent ...
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.
