Casey M. Preston represents plaintiffs across the country in qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act against companies that engage in fraudulent conduct that causes economic harm to federal and state governments.
Casey has significant experience in investigating, reporting, and prosecuting Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes, including violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Act. He also has substantial experience with other types of government fraud, including non-compliance with government contracts, Title IV federal student aid fraud, Payroll Protection Plan fraud, and customs and tariff fraud.
He also represents individuals who report securities fraud, tax fraud, and customs fraud through the SEC Whistleblower Program and other federal whistleblower programs.
Casey also has significant experience representing plaintiffs in complex commercial cases and securities litigation in courts across the U.S.
- A sealed qui tam action against a large manufacturer of custom orthotics that allegedly supplied equipment to Medicare beneficiaries that it knew did not comply with Medicare’s customization requirements.
- A sealed qui tam action against a large chain of nursing homes for understaffing and providing substandard care.
- A SEC whistleblower program case reporting that lenders are issuing consumer loans without performing underwriting and misrepresenting the default risk of the loans to investors who acquire the loans.
- A SEC whistleblower program case reporting that a biotech company misled investors about the status of a groundbreaking technology that it claimed to be developing. The case resulted in a SEC enforcement action and the imposition of significant penalties.
- United States ex rel. Saidiani v. NextCare, Inc.: A qui tam action against the NextCare chain of urgent care centers that allegedly billed the government for unnecessary medical tests and services performed on beneficiaries of the government health care programs. There was a $10 million recovery by the government.
- United States ex rel. Rai v. Kool Smiles, P.C.: A qui tam action against the Kool Smiles pediatric dentistry chain for allegedly billing the state Medicaid programs for unnecessary dental procedures. There was a $23.9 million recovery by the federal government and several states.
- [Sealed] v. [Sealed]: Successfully represented an investor in several commercial real estate LLCs in a fraud and breach of fiduciary duty action against the LLCs’ manager.
- In re Fleming Cos. Inc. Securities Litigation: Represented stock and bondholders in a class action against grocery chain and food distributor Fleming Companies and its outside auditor that resulted in a $94 million recovery for investors.
- In re Cigna Corp. Securities Litigation.: Represented a state pension fund in a securities class action against health insurer Cigna that resulted in a $93 million recovery for stockholders.
- Member, Taxpayers Against Fraud
- Federal Bar Association
- Pro Bono Services, Legal Clinic for the Disabled, Philadelphia
- Pro Bono Services, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
- Pennsylvania
- Villanova University School of Law, J.D., 2000
- The Citadel, B.S., 1995
- Law Clerk, the Hon. William J. Nealon, United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 2001-2002
- Law Clerk, the Hon. Terrence R. Nealon, Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, 2000-2001
Current Cases
U.S.A. v. Janssen Biotech, Inc.
U.S.A. v. Janssen Biotech, Inc. (D. Mass.): Cohen Milstein represents the plaintiff-relator in a whistleblower/qui tam lawsuit against Janssen Biotech (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), alleging that the manufacturer of the rheumatoid arthritis drugs Remicade and Simponi ARIA violated federal law by engaging in a scheme through which it provided physicians free practice management and infusion business consulting services over an extended period to induce the physicians to purchase Remicade and Simponi ARIA and administer these drugs to patients, including Medicare beneficiaries, via infusions performed in their offices.
Past Cases
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. International Business Machines Corp.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. International Business Machines Corp. (Crt. Common Pleas, Dauphin Cnty., Penn.): Cohen Milstein represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry in a breach of contract dispute against IBM related to the modernization of an unemployment compensation delivery system for the Commonwealth. On August 24, 2021, the parties announced, after extensive discovery and the exchange of expert reports, that they had reached a confidential settlement.
USA, State of Maryland ex rel. J. Doe v. Shore Health System, Inc.
United States of America and The State of Maryland ex rel. J. Doe v. Shore Health System, Inc. (D. Md.): Cohen Milstein represented the whistleblower who brought forward and filed a qui tam lawsuit, alleging that Shore Health System, a subsidiary of the University of Maryland Medical System that operates two hospitals and several non-hospital outpatient centers located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, overcharged the Medicare and Maryland Medicaid programs between 2014 – 2018 for services provided to Medicare and dual eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. On July 16, 2021, the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and the State of Maryland reached a $9.5 million settlement.
USA, ex. rel. O’Connor v. National Spine and Pain Centers, LLC
United States of America ex rel. Michelle O’Connor v. National Spine and Pain Centers, LLC, et al. (E.D. Va.): Cohen Milstein represented the whistleblower, a physician assistant and former employee of PMA in this qui tam action. The whistleblower alleged that PMA, which operates several pain management practices in Virginia, doing business as National Spine & Pain Centers, overcharged Medicare, TRICARE, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for medical services and ordered quantitative urine drug tests that were medically unnecessary, and which were billed to the federal health care programs. On April 19, 2019, the United States Government reached a settlement with PMA for approximately $3.3 million.
USA, ex. rel., Lauren Kieff, et al. v. Wyeth
United States of America et al., ex rel. Lauren Kieff, v. Wyeth, No.1:03-CV-12366-DPW (D.Mass.): A qui tam action alleging that drug manufacturer Wyeth overcharged the state Medicaid programs by not providing them the statutorily required “best price” for a widely prescribed drug. This action resulted in a recovery of more than $780 million by the government.
March 10, 2023
Janssen Must Hand Over Records In Kickback Case
Janssen Biotech Inc. must hand over its communications with federal agencies regarding a former employee’s claims filed on behalf of the government that the company paid doctors kickbacks to boost its drug sales, a Boston federal judge ordered. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley settled a crossfire of discovery motions in an order Thursday […]
In the News | Law360
December 16, 2022
Janssen Thwarting Docs Order in Kickback Suit, Court Told
Pharmaceutical giant Janssen is refusing to comply with previous orders for discovery, impeding the progress of a suit alleging that it paid kickbacks to doctors to boost sales of certain drugs, attorneys for a relator told a Massachusetts federal judge Thursday. In a memorandum to U.S. District Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor, relator Julie Long […]
In the News | Law360
August 15, 2022
Whistleblowers Often Prevail in False Claims Act Cases Without Government Intervention — Recovering Nearly $4B For Taxpayers Since 2010
The federal False Claims Act and similar state anti-fraud statutes authorize private citizens to redress government fraud by filing a legal action on behalf of the United States, as well as for certain states, to recover for the government the funds that wrongdoers unlawfully obtained, along with substantial penalties. These lawsuits are referred to as […]
Articles
August 25, 2021
IBM Settles Pa. Labor Dept.’s Suit Over $110M IT Upgrade
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced on Tuesday that it has settled a fraud lawsuit accusing IBM of racking up tens of millions in cost overruns while failing to deliver under a $110 million contract to create a new integrated computer system for handling the state’s unemployment compensation program. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & […]
In the News | Law360
August 15, 2021
Shore Health Pays $9.5 Million Settlement After Alleged Medicare, Medicaid Overpayments
Following a lengthy federal lawsuit, University of Maryland Shore Regional Health returned nearly $9.5 million in overpayments to Medicare and Maryland Medicaid to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations in June. The civil lawsuit was originally filed in July 2016 after a whistleblower brought forward claims that Shore Health allegedly overcharged Medicare and Maryland Medicaid […]
In the News | NBC 6 KPVI
July 19, 2021
University of Maryland Hospital Operator Agrees to Return $9.5M in Overpayments to Medicare and Maryland Medicaid
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Shore Health System, Inc., had been overbilling government health care programs from 2014 to 2018 BALTIMORE, MD — National plaintiffs firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll announced today that the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and the State of Maryland reached a nearly $9.5 million settlement with Shore Health System, Inc. (Shore Health) […]
Press Releases
February 19, 2020
J&J Offered Doctors Free Services and Profit-Making Advice to Boost Remicade Scripts: Whistleblower Suit
Many top drugmakers have faced allegations that they offered free services as kickbacks to doctors, and Johnson & Johnson is confronting those claims in a newly unsealed whistleblower lawsuit. In the suit, a former employee says J&J’s Janssen unit helped doctors set up high-volume “infusion suites” and offered other services to amp up Remicade and […]
In the News | Fierce Pharma