POSTPONED - Livestream - Whistleblower Law Symposium

Ms. Neeli Ben-David Related Seminars and Products

US Attorneys Office

Neeli Ben-David currently serves as the Chief of the Civil Division as well as Health Care Fraud Coordinator and eLitigation Coordinator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.  During her tenure at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she has received the Director’s Award for Contributions that Enhance the Missions of the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys and United States Attorneys’ Offices, and a Special Act Award from the Executive Office for the United States Attorney for work as co-chair of the eLitigation Working Group, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Award in 2011, 2013 and 2017.

Prior to coming to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Neeli was with the firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore and, before then, served as a law clerk to the Honorable John G. Heyburn, II, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.  She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, cum laude.  While there, she served on the Law Review and Moot Court Board.  She received her bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland with general and departmental honors.

Mr. Michael A. Sullivan Related Seminars and Products

Finch McCranie LLP

Michael A. Sullivan of Finch McCranie, LLP is a former federal prosecutor with 35+ years of trial experience in complex civil and criminal cases.  With a background including trials of business torts and serious injury cases, he also represents qui tam whistleblowers in cases under the False Claims Act, as well as SEC Whistleblowers, FCPA Whistleblowers, CFTC Whistleblowers, and IRS Whistleblowers. 

He also recently served as Counsel to the Volkswagen AG Independent Compliance Monitor Larry D. Thompson, and coordinated with counsel across the globe to satisfy legal requirements of countries in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America.

He also conducts and supervises internal investigations for clients with business integrity issues, and he advises international and domestic clients on compliance with U.S. laws.

Mr. Sullivan was co-counsel to Relators in two of the largest health care fraud qui tam recoveries in recent years: (1) the $465 million settlement by Mylan, Inc. in 2017 for erroneously classifying its patented, brand name drug EpiPen as a generic drug to avoid its obligation to pay higher Medicaid rebates; and (2) the groundbreaking case that authorized use of statistical sampling to prove elements of FCA liability and damages, United States ex rel. Glenda Martin v. Life Care Centers of America, Inc. (E.D. TN), which in 2016 produced the largest health care fraud settlement in history against a skilled nursing facility chain. 

Mr. Sullivan has worked with the False Claims Act since the late 1980s and has both defended and prosecuted cases under the False Claims Act.  Mr. Sullivan helped draft Georgia’s two qui tam statutes, the 2007 “State False Medicaid Claims Act,” and the 2012 “Georgia Taxpayer Protection False Claims Act.” Since the December 2006 beginning of the new IRS Whistleblower Program, Mr. Sullivan has also represented IRS whistleblowers in submissions totaling billions of dollars.  He has also worked with the IRS Whistleblower Office staff in presenting programs on best practices in pursuing IRS Whistleblower claims.

In 2009 and again in 2010, Mr. Sullivan was consulted by staff members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to discuss how the new SEC and CFTC Whistleblower Programs should operate.  In 2011, he met with the SEC and CFTC Chairmen and senior staff to recommend changes to the proposed rules for SEC and CFTC Whistleblower claims. Mr. Sullivan is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt Law School.  He clerked for U.S. District Judge Marvin H. Shoob in Atlanta from 1984-86.  He chairs the “Whistleblower Law Symposium” in Atlanta.  

Ms. Emily Cook Ward Related Seminars and Products

Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP

Emily C. Ward is a Partner in Smith Gambrell & Russell's Atlanta office who’s practice concentrates on white-collar defense, government investigations, and civil litigation including environmental, business, and healthcare litigation, as well as administrative and regulatory matters.

Ms. Ward regularly represents defendants in environmental, cybersecurity, public corruption, and tax fraud investigations, with recent successes resulting in no indictments being filed or substantially reduced penalties being negotiated. She obtained a defense verdict in a multi-day arbitration for healthcare practice that had been charged with violating various contractual provisions regarding medical billing, physician recruitment, and restrictive covenants. Ms. Ward also received a defense verdict for parents who had been placed on the child abuse registry after seeking medical treatment for their accidentally injured child. Ms. Ward often defends medical professionals before state medical, dental, nursing, and health insurance boards to prevent disciplinary actions from being imposed. She also has represented many students accused of academic, behavioral, and other infractions and helped them resolve the situation with the administrative and academic conduct boards.

Ms. Ward is active in multiple bar associations including the American Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, and Atlanta Bar Association. She currently serves as Secretary and is on the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Bar Association. Ms. Ward also recently served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section in 2021 and Women in the Profession Section in 2019.

Ms. Ward has been recognized in Chambers USA as an Up and Coming attorney in Litigation White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, in multiple categories by Best Lawyers as One to Watch, and Georgia Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, among others. She also was recognized as the University of Georgia’s Young Alumnae of Excellence in 2022 and was the inaugural recipient of the Catherine M. O’Neil Mentoring Award given by the Women’s White Collar Defense Association in recognition of her as an outstanding junior member of the WWCDA.

Ms. Ward received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and her J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law.

Sarah Poppy Alexander Related Seminars and Products

Constantine Cannon LLP

Poppy Alexander is a partner in Constantine Cannon’s San Francisco office. She represents whistleblowers and government entities in qui tam lawsuits, as well as under the various agency whistleblower programs including those administered by the Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, FinCEN, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Department of Transportation.  Poppy’s practice focuses on issues of international corruption and financial misconduct, with a specialty in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering cases.  She writes and speaks regularly about emerging topics in financial fraud, including sanctions violations, SPACs, and cryptocurrency.  

Neil V. Getnick Related Seminars and Products

Getnick & Getnick, NYC

Mark W. Pugsley Related Seminars and Products

Pugsley Wood LLP (Salt Lake City)

Michael A. Filoromo III Related Seminars and Products

Katz Banks Kumin

Michael Filoromo joined Katz Banks Kumin LLP in 2008 and now manages its Philadelphia office. A leading employment attorney, Mr. Filoromo regularly represents whistleblowers in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial, aviation, and energy industries in bringing retaliation claims under federal and state whistleblower laws.  Mr. Filoromo also has secured successful outcomes for clients through whistleblower reward programs.  He secured for a client one of the first 50 awards issued pursuant to the SEC Whistleblower Program, and he has successfully represented relators in qui tam actions under federal and state False Claims Acts.

Mr. Filoromo has been recognized by multiple outlets for his success in whistleblower and employment law, including Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Lawdragon, and the Philadelphia Business Journal. In addition to his litigation work, Mr. Filoromo has served since 2020 as the President of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, where he leads an organization of 85 plaintiff-side employment attorneys. Additionally, Mr. Filoromo serves as the Employee Co-Chair of the Outreach to New and Young Lawyers Committee of the ABA’s Labor and Employment Section.  Mr. Filoromo is the co-author of the “SEC Whistleblower Practice Guide” and the “CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide,” and he regularly publishes and speaks on trends and topics in whistleblower law.