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
Second Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Wells Fargo Financial Crisis Bailout False Claims Act Case
A False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam case seeking to potentially recover billions in public funds fraudulently provided to Wells Fargo and its subsidiaries during the height of the 2008 financial crisis was once again revived last week by the Second Circuit. The ruling is a massive win for the FCA qui tam relators as the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal of the complaint despite arguments from the United States Government itself that the allegations in the complaint should not constitute FCA violations. Whistleblowers Paul Bishop and Robert Kraus, who are both former employees of Wells Fargo entities, filed the qui tam lawsuit in 2011. The lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo and its subsidiary Wachovia submitted false requests to Federal Reserve Banks for billions of dollars in emergency loans with highly favorable interest rates in late 2008 and early 2009. The complaint alleges that prior to 2008 Wachovia had “originated and securitized ...
HUD-DOJ Memo Aims to Decrease Number of False Claims Act Lawsuits Related to FHA Mortgage Fraud
A recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) between the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) has increased the difficulty prospective qui tam relators will face when filing False Claims Act mortgage fraud whistleblower lawsuits revolving around Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) regulatory violations. The MOU, announced in late October, grants a significant amount of influence and discretion to HUD in advising the DOJ regarding qui tam FCA cases or potential FCA cases stemming from internal HUD knowledge of regulatory violations. As HUD Secretary Ben Carson has explained, the ultimate goal of the MOU is to raise the standard required to bring and ultimately succeed on FHA-based FCA claims. HUD hopes this will attract large-scale banks to provide FHA-backed mortgages once again. Over the past decade, banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have mostly stayed away from providing FHA mortgages. Their reason, ...
Qui Tam Lawsuit Recovers over $20 Million in Taxpayer Dollars and Further Exposes Dangers of Physician-Owned Distributorships
A newly announced multimillion-dollar settlement of a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) case has continued a highly successful run for the United States of recovering taxpayer dollars in connection to healthcare fraud. In recent weeks, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has settled whistleblower initiated FCA cases alleging fraudulent healthcare billing for unnecessary genetic testing ($42.6 million) and knee injections ($7.13 million). Adding to that list, the DOJ announced an October 28 settlement with Sanford Health, Sanford Medical Center, and Sanford Clinic (collectively “Sanford”) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The settlement, totaling $20.25 million, resolves allegations that Sanford submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs deriving from violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and billing for unnecessary spinal surgeries to implant devices. A qui tam lawsuit filed by two Sanford-employed surgeons, Dr. Carl Dustin Bechtold and Dr. Bryan Wellman, exposed the allegedly fraudulent practices. Dr. Bechtold and Dr. Wellman will receive ...
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.
