Kelley Drye’s White Collar Crime Practice Chair Wins Major Federal Criminal Health Care Fraud Trial

Kelley Drye Partner Julian Solotorovsky won a judgment of acquittal in a federal criminal trial involving Medicare Anti-Kickback and conspiracy claims in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

The case arose out of a major undercover operation run for 18 months by the FBI and other federal agencies seeking to uncover Medicare fraud. Several corporations and individuals have already pled guilty in various cases arising from the investigation, and this case was the only case to go to trial.

Kelley Drye’s client was an enteral nutrition products sales manager for a subsidiary of a worldwide pharmaceutical company, the other defendant was also a sales manager for the same company. The government alleged that a ​“conversion and performance bonus” offered by the defendants’ employer as part of a contract proposal was a kickback, but the Court granted Kelley Drye’s motion for judgment of acquittal at the end of the government’s case.

The Court held that the government had not put forth enough evidence that a reasonable juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendants had the necessary criminal intent. The Court stated in its oral ruling on the motion that evidence showed that the conversion and performance bonus had been approved by the defendants’ manager and a company lawyer, and that the Defendants offered the contract proposal only after getting the attorney’s approval.