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At The Gabriel Law Firm, P.C., I work with businesses and individuals, uncovering—and recovering from—corporate wrongdoing and malfeasance, recognizing that business interests in these circumstances are multi-faceted.

If your business has been hurt by employee wrongdoing, officer misconduct, or if you have evidence that your company has committed fraud or broken the law, I can help you.

Contact my Atlanta, Georgia, law office. I work with clients in business litigation in Georgia and can serve as co-counsel in business malfeasance cases across the U.S.

When Client Interests Have Been Damaged by Malfeasance

If your firm has been the victim of intentional employee, officer, or director misconduct, you can sue for money damages. You may also choose to bring a complaint to law enforcement.

Among immediate considerations ought to be the recognition that state and federal law enforcement agencies will independently decide if the case is worth investigating. If they choose to investigate, any evidence they gather will be confidential to them, whether or not brought before a grand jury, and their evidence will become inaccessible to your civil lawyer. Once the government begins its investigation, initiating or continuing an investigation by the company can interfere or be misinterpreted as obstructive, which can make it difficult to bring or maintain a parallel civil case for financial recovery. Then, in the end, law enforcement may decide not to investigate at all.

I help businesses independently investigate and appropriately gather evidence of internal wrongdoing, so that they can maximize their goals of quick, accurate assessments, issue resolution, and privacy, and then coordination with their other business goals.

I can put together an effective forensic team to conduct an internal investigation that yields evidence admissible under federal evidentiary standards while allowing your business to use the information that has been collected. By virtue of my background as a retired FBI agent and legal advisor, and through membership in the Society of Former Agents and other networks, I have access to some of the best investigative resources in the country. I have also developed strategic liaisons with other experienced attorneys and larger law firms willing and able to take on the most complex litigation cases.

I work with business owners, executives and professionals, and their counsel who have been victimized by:

• Director, officer, or employee misconduct
• Partnership and close corporation shareholder disputes
• Embezzlement and theft
• Breaches of fiduciary duty
• Contractor or vendor fraud
• Misuse or misappropriation of proprietary information, and other business torts

Does your business involve federal funding?

Businesses and non-federal government agencies that receive or depend on federal contracts, grants, loans, or other federal funding have regulatory and statutory “strings attached” to the money they receive. Whether it is Medicare/Medicaid, military, Homeland Security (fire / police / first-responder matters), education, research, training, transportation, or any other program area involving partial or complete federal funding, the processes require complete administrative compliance with applicable statutes, rules, and regulations.

Ensuring the security and integrity of our federal programs is a government priority.

Have you become aware that false claims or certifications have been made to the government, either intentionally or unintentionally, by employees of your company?

Are you concerned that your business is at risk because of errors or improper filings? Have you uncovered serious or systemic noncompliance and are not sure if it was caused by inadvertent error or intentional manipulation and fraud? Have you received an allegation that there is fraud taking place within your business that could be the subject of a whistleblower case or federal investigation?

If your organization has contracts with the federal government, your company may be liable for false claims you, your subordinates, or your agents make—whether that falsehood is intentional or not. If you discover false claims, there are certain obligations to correct the record and return any improperly received funds or overpayments...your business may also need to report the problem to law enforcement.

In order to analyze the best options to consider, business owners, officers and directors, and their lawyers, need to know their company’s exposure before acting. They need to know what happened, how it happened, and who was responsible.

I work with business owners who want to investigate possible fraud within their companies so that they can pin down the facts and fashion the best response to deal honestly with the government.

Qui Tam—How Citizen Whistleblowers Protect the System and Defend the Taxpayer

Lying, cheating, and stealing are not behaviors that are advertised for what they are. They are done in the background, with stealth and a sinister purpose. They can go on undiscovered and unchecked indefinitely. It generally takes some one on the inside—or someone who happens upon the activities—to expose the events.

The qui tam provisions authorize individuals to file suit on behalf of the United States against those who have falsely or fraudulently claimed federal funds. Such cases run the gamut of federally funded programs from Medicare and Medicaid to defense contracts, disaster assistance, and agricultural subsidies.

Individuals who knowingly submit false claims for federal funds are liable for three times the government’s loss plus a civil penalty of $5,500 to $11,000 for each false claim. If the United States intervenes in a qui tam action, the person who filed the suit may receive from 15 up to 25 percent of the government’s recovery. In FY 2006, whistleblowers were awarded $190 million. (This figure does not reflect whistleblower shares for FY 2006 settlements that were or will be determined after Sept. 30, 2006.)

—U.S. Department of Justice Press Release 06-783, November 21, 2006

The rules for Qui Tam (whistleblower) cases are complicated. You must have proof of the fraud being committed; you must have first-hand knowledge; and you must be the first to file suit and bring it to the attention of the government in order to be protected.

Working closely with a my co-counsel, Albert L. “Al” Kemp, a retired federal fraud prosecutor, we are qualified to assess and litigate these claims.

We can work with you to bring your whistleblower case to the attention of the government quickly and with less risk. Al and I work with our whistleblower clients to establish their proof, prepare their case for suit, and coordinate with the correct federal resources to ensure a thorough and effective review.

In addition to the federal False Claims Act, a number of states including Georgia have either begun or completed the process of enacting parallel state qui tam - false claims statutes.

Moreover, in December, 2006, new IRS whistleblower rewards for uncovering under payments or tax fraud took effect providing for rewards from 10 percent to 30 percent of recovered monies (Title 26, U.S. Code, Section 7623).

If you are an executive, an accountant, bookkeeper, auditor, office or practice manager, an ethics or compliance officer—or if you know one—who is upset or frustrated that the business they are in does not work honestly and refuses to change, and if you have first hand knowledge and evidence of the false and fraudulent claims being made to the government, then contact my Atlanta office for a confidential consultation to learn more about whether and how you can—and when you should—"blow the whistle" on fraud or wrongdoing.