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The Hill: Lobbying World
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Leading Antitrust Lawyers and DOJ Alumni Allen P. Grunes and Maurice E. Stucke Join GeyerGorey LLP
GeyerGorey LLP is pleased to announce that two veteran Department of Justice prosecutors, Allen P. Grunes and Maurice E. Stucke, have joined the firm. Grunes, recently named as a “Washington D.C. Super Lawyer for 2013” in antitrust litigation, government relations, and mergers & acquisitions, joins as a partner. Stucke, a widely-published professor with numerous honors including a Fulbright fellowship, joins as of counsel. Stucke will continue to teach at the University of Tennessee College of Law.
“We are delighted that Allen and Maurice have decided to join us,” said Brad Geyer. “They add considerable fire power to our already impressive antitrust, compliance and white collar roster and give us more capabilities and capacity, particularly on the civil side.”
Robert Zastrow, who was Verizon’s Assistant General Counsel for 15 years before co-founding the firm in October 2012, added, “Allen’s and Maurice’s extensive background and expertise nicely complement our firm’s unique philosophy and enrich our competition and merger practices. We are thrilled they are joining our innovative effort in delivering legal services.”
GeyerGorey LLP presents a new way to practice law. It may be the only law firm in the country where prior federal prosecutorial experience is a prerequisite for partnership. Given its lawyers’ extensive legal expertise, GeyerGorey can handle trials involving the most complex legal and factual issues, and, when advantageous, work with other law firms, economists and specialists, particularly former federal prosecutors and agents, who bolster existing resources, expertise and constantly freshen perspective. As founding partner Hays Gorey added, “We seek to avoid the traditional hierarchal partner-associate pyramid, hourly billing fee structure, and practice fiefdoms. We want to attract entrepreneurial lawyers, like Allen and Maurice, who love competition policy and practicing law. Having worked with them at DOJ, I am excited about the expertise and enthusiasm they bring to our clients.”
Consistent with GeyerGorey’s philosophy, both Grunes and Stucke are alumni of the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, in Washington, D.C. At DOJ, they led numerous civil investigations, worked on high-profile trials, and negotiated consent decrees involving significant divestitures across many different industries. In their last case together at the Division, In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation, they successfully sought, as a matter of equity and the first time in the Division’s history, for the government’s share of damages in a private class action settlement.
Grunes and Stucke are regarded as leading authorities on competition policy in the media. Their scholarship on media and telecommunications policy has been published in the Antitrust Law Journal, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Connecticut Law Review, the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, and the Federal Communications Law Journal. They have spoken at numerous conferences on competition policy and the media, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s workshop, How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? Both are frequently quoted in the press on mergers and anticompetitive conduct. In addition, both serve on the advisory boards of the American Antitrust Institute and the Loyola Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies in Chicago.
Allen Grunes joins GeyerGorey from another Washington, D.C. firm, where he was a shareholder. His recent matters include acting as class counsel in litigation against several hospitals and an association in Arizona that allegedly artificially depressed the rates paid to temporary nurses, opposing the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile for a coalition of companies including DISH Network, and representing Warner Music Group in connection with the merger of Universal and EMI. He has counseled dozens of companies and associations on antitrust issues and corporate mergers. He also serves as chair of the antitrust committee of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
Maurice Stucke is a tenured professor at the University of Tennessee and a leading competition law scholar. With over 30 articles and book chapters, Stucke has been invited by competition authorities from around the world and the OECD to speak about behavioral economics and competition policy. He currently is one of the United States’ non-governmental advisors to the International Competition Network, the only international body devoted exclusively to competition law enforcement. His scholarship has been cited by the U.S. federal courts, the OECD, competition agencies and policymakers.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., GeyerGorey specializes in white collar criminal defense, particularly investigations and cases involving allegations of economic crimes, such as violations of the federal antitrust laws (price fixing, bid rigging, territorial and customer allocation agreements), procurement fraud, securities fraud, foreign bribery (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and qui tam (False Claims Act) and whistleblower actions. The firm also conducts internal investigations of possible criminal conduct and provides advice regarding compliance with U.S. antitrust and other laws.
GeyerGorey LLP’s Phillip C. Zane Named to 2013 Edition of Washington D.C. Super Lawyers
GeyerGorey LLP first international law firm to beta test PerfectShield™
GeyerGorey LLP first international law firm to beta test PerfectShield™
WASHINGTON — GeyerGorey LLP today announced that it had been chosen by FormerFeds LLC to be the first international law firm to beta test its revolutionary “PerfectShield™” Compliance system designed and deployed by former American fraud enforcers (a/k/a “FormerFeds”). PerfectShield™ is the newest weapon in our arsenal
to provide a ‘redundant complex risk prevention array’ for clients that is affordable and provides automated and organized support for a company’s compliance operations overseen and administered by our law firm,” said firm partner Robert Zastrow. “Because PerfectShield™ delivers the things we need most right now for our clients, we were happy to help FormerFeds LLC fine tune its compliance system to assist its other law firm clients later in the year. We believe this gives GeyerGorey and its clients an advantage in our constant struggle to implement and maintain a vigilant compliance culture that innovates and reinforces productive corporate behavior moving forward.”
PerfectShield™ provides:
- centralized, whole-of-business risk and compliance visibility and benchmarking
- easy configuration to meet any regulatory environment in any sector
- unique compliance portal for customized assessments and notifications
- red flag generation and tracking system designed to protect privilege
- cost effective, low-risk, pay-as-you-go pricing
“We were looking ‘software as a service’ (SAS) that provided an organizational ‘fire and forget’ system embedding compliance, transparency and corporate governance into one program solution,” stated Hays Gorey. “FormerFedsCompliance™ developed its system across disciplines so that the wall that exists between various specialties within a law firm—for instance, cartel enforcement and FCPA, is rendered obsolete by PerfectShield™; efforts in each area informs the other area and efforts to embed compliance on the “sell” side of operations informs the “buy” side of operations capturing incremental improvements, innovating the program and constantly improving and solidifying the program on an affordable schedule that factors in legal counsel’s expert assessments regarding risk,” said Brad Geyer.
“It allows us to focus on the risk and emerging legal threats while PerfectShield™ gathers the information, red flags threats and channels those threats back to us in real time so that we can immediately follow through in a way that preserves the attorney client privilege. Customized tracking and notification preferences allows inside compliance counsel, inside legal counsel and or management to track , statistically analyze performance and benchmark results moving forward,” said Geyer. All the while, PerfectShield™ documents and records the performance and comprehensiveness of the compliance program for presentations to interested enforcement agencies, standards boards, acquisition candidates, large suppliers or large customers.
GeyerGorey LLP, with offices in Washington, New York, Boston and Philadelphia, provides international and inside-the-beltway experience to individuals and companies that have become — or wish to avoid becoming — the subject of federal law enforcement agency interest.
Phillip C. Zane, Antitrust Practitioner and Scholar, Joins GeyerGorey LLP
GeyerGorey LLP announced today that Phillip C. Zane has joined the Firm as of counsel. Mr. Zane, a former federal appellate clerk, has counseled and defended clients accused of serious crimes and civil offenses for more than twenty years. He received his law degree cum laude from New York University School of Law, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Economic History from Pomona College. Proficient in speaking or reading a number of languages a number of languages, including Swedish, Russian, German, Polish, and Spanish, he has conducted internal investigations of alleged wrongdoing in more than twenty countries and has defended companies and individuals accused of participating in international cartels.
Mr. Zane’s practice areas include civil and criminal antitrust law (including litigation and counseling), fraud, money laundering, foreign asset control, public corruption, whistleblower cases, and national security issues. He will also continue to counsel nonprofit organizations on compliance with tax law and other matters.
Mr. Zane’s work has changed the course of the law. His representation of one of the nation’s leading law firms led to a clarification and narrowing of the meaning of “arising under an Act of Congress relating to patents,” which resulted in the dismissal of a malpractice claim against that law firm. His application of game theory to decisions of whether and when a client should plead guilty to a criminal antitrust offense contributed to the adoption of a new statute limiting civil liability for antitrust offenders who accept responsibility for criminal offenses. His groundbreaking scholarship on criminal procedure and criminal sentencing affected how many scholars, practitioners, and judges think about maximum fines in cases involving the most serious financial crimes. In a case he brought on behalf of an indigent client, he convinced the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to recognize a property interest in subsidized housing benefits, establishing a new procedural due process right in the District of Columbia.
“Mr. Zane is truly a lawyer’s lawyer, and we are delighted that he is joining our Firm,” said managing partner Bradford Geyer.
Mr. Zane will be resident in the Washington office.
Teresa C. Zalcman, the first Vietnamese-American United States Department of Justice prosecutor, joins GeyerGorey LLP.
GeyerGorey LLP today announced that Teresa Zalcman (nee Clinton) has become a Senior Advisor to the firm. Ms. Zalcman was the first Vietnamese-American to serve as a prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice. Her affiliation with GeyerGorey LLP complements the firm’s efforts to provide companies with advice on compliance with federal criminal laws and regulations, in detecting wrongdoing by corporate employees and in providing full-scope, white-collar criminal defense where prevention and mitigation measures fail.
Ms. Zalcman immigrated to the United States in 1968. She is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and received her law degree from Howard University before being hired by the Department of Justice under the Attorney General’s Honor’s Program.
Ms. Zalcman has been engaged professionally in recent years as an investment adviser and money manager. She bides her time among three cities, New York, Los Angeles and Nha Trang.
Ms. Zalcman has maintained extensive contacts within Vietnam and travels throughout the country on a regular basis. She will be a great asset to American companies seeking to enter the Vietnamese market, as well as to Vietnamese companies that wish to market their products in the United States.
GGLLP Alert: Changes to the False Claims Act Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Changes to the False Claims Act Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) made a number of significant changes to the False Claims Act, including the following:
Original Source Requirement. A plaintiff may now overcome the public disclosure if he or she qualifies as an “original source.” The PPACA revised the definition of this term. Previously, an original source had to have “direct and independent knowledge of the information on which the allegations [were] based.” Now, an original source may be a person who merely has “knowledge that is independent of and materially adds to the publicly disclosed allegations or transactions.” See 31 U.S.C. 3730(e)(4)(B).
Changes to the Public Disclosure Bar. Previously, relators were precluded from proceeding if there had been a public disclosure of information. This disclosure could have occurred in news reports, a Freedom of Information Act response, court proceedings or in any number of ways. Thus, the public disclosure bar often served as a basis for dismissal. The PPACA amended the False Claims Act to allow the government to have the final say on whether a court could properly dismiss a case based on a public disclosure. The statute now provides that “the court shall dismiss an action unless opposed by the Government, if substantially the same allegations or transaction alleged in the action or claim were publicly disclosed.” See 31 U.S.C. 3730(e)(4)(A).
Overpayments. In the prior law, there was confusion as to the “obligation” under the False Claims Act not to retain overpayments and when such overpayments had to be returned after their discovery. Now, under the PPACA, overpayments under Medicare and Medicaid must be reported and returned within 60 days of discovery, or the date a corresponding hospital report is due. The failure timely to report and return an overpayment exposes a provider to False Claims Act liability.
Statutory Anti-Kickback Liability. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b(b) (AKS), makes it a crime for any person to solicit, receive, offer or pay remuneration (monetary or otherwise) in exchange for referring patients to receive certain services that are paid for by the government. Previously, many courts had interpreted the False Claims Act to mean that claims submitted as a result of AKS violations were false claims and therefore gave rise to liability under the False Claims Act (in addition to AKS penalties). Even though this was the majority rule, some courts held otherwise and the issue was always present in every case. The PPACA changed the language of the AKS to provide that claims submitted in violation of the AKS automatically constitute false claims for purposes of the False Claims Act. Further, the new language provides that “a person need not have actual knowledge … or specific intent to commit a violation” of the AKS.
Tanzania’s Contract Registration Board Holds First Procurement Fraud Best Practices Workshop With Assistance From GeyerGorey LLP
From February 25 through March 1st 2013, at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Contractors’ Registration Board (CRB) of Tanzania hosted the first in a series of comprehensive multi-day procurement fraud training programs.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Mar. 21, 2013 – From February 25 through March 1st 2013, at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Contractors’
Chief Executive Officer Bonaface Megage announced that the CRB intended this program to be the beginning of a national procurement fraud initiative established to promote the early detection, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with increased contracting activity for government programs necessary to support a growing Tanzanian economy. “In the weeks and months to come, we will be reaching out to other agencies within Tanzania and asking them for their support in our continuing efforts to eliminate fraud from the procurement process,” stated CRB’s Chairman of the Board Consolata Ngimbwa. “We wanted to create the leading best practices contracting program in our region of the world and that is why we invited business sector leaders in the Tanzanian economy to incorporate their experiences and help us shape a fraud enforcement program that is in parity with other international programs and yet still unique to Tanzania.”
Conceived and coordinated under the capable guidance and supervision of Professor Charles Inyangete, of T-Mortgage Limited, a noted scholar, advisor and consultant on the African continent involving procurement, finance, economic policy, banking and financial risk, the conference incorporated three full days of instruction and included a final day “Master Class” that blended US case hypotheticals with Tanzanian enforcement experience. “We were immensely pleased with the advice, counsel and three days of instruction provided by Bradford L Geyer (from GeyerGorey LLP, an American law firm based out of New York and Washington D.C. that specializes on international fraud enforcement programs, compliance and white collar defense). “Mr. Geyer used a five year period of American experience of Overseas Contingency Operations Contracting and compared and contrasted it with the challenges we face here in Tanzania. While doing so, he familiarized our participants with cutting edge technologies in best contracting practices and compliance that focused on competition, antitrust, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering, reporting structures, document control and preservation, and risk management.”
CRB Vice Chairman Joseph Tango stated that “[Tanzanians]
The participants in the first Tanzanian Contract and Procurement Fraud Workshop were selected from inside and outside of Tanzanian government for their expertise, experience and leadership qualities and had agreed by consensus to incorporate the technologies they learned at the conference back to their home offices to share with colleagues.
GeyerGorey LLP Opens New York Office
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Feb. 18, 2013 – WASHINGTON — GeyerGorey LLP today announced the opening of a new office in New York. This is the firm’s fourth office. The New York office now joins with the firm’s Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston offices in providing international and inside-the-beltway experience to individuals and companies that have become — or wish to avoid becoming — the subject of federal criminal law enforcement agency interest. Partner Robert J. Zastrow, resident in the Boston office, will oversee client matters in New York.
GeyerGorey LLP aims to meet the needs of companies for advice and training in compliance with federal criminal laws and in the detection of wrongdoing by corporate employees. The firm also specializes in the defense of white-collar criminal cases. The firm’s Web site may be found at www.GeyerGorey.com.
The New York office is located at 112 W. 34th Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10120. The office telephone number is (212) 920-0676. For further information, please call Robert Zastrow at (212) 920-0676 or send an email to [email protected].