NAFUSA lifetime member Thomas O’Brien secured a major victory in the U.S. District Court

NAFUSA lifetime member Thomas O’Brien, partner at Browne George Ross O’Brien Annaguey & Ellis LLP secured a major victory last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, successfully clearing Dr. Mirali Zarrabi on all 33 felony counts regarding a $355 million insurance fraud scheme on the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business. O’Brien was lead counsel and his trial team included former Assistant U.S. Attorneys from his days as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (2007-2009).

Dr. Zarrabi, a pulmonologist, was the sole defendant acquitted of all charges in what appears to be the lengthiest federal trial conducted nationwide during the pandemic, spanning close to three months.

“The complexity of the matter and length of the trial were significant challenges, but our client, Dr. Zarrabi, is extremely pleased with the outcome and so are we,” said O’Brien. “It’s not often a defendant with so many charges is acquitted on all of them, but the jury did its job and reviewed the evidence properly.”

Federal prosecutors argued at trial that the 1-800-GET-THIN network had fraudulently submitted roughly $355 million in insurance claims for coverage of Lap-Band surgeries, a type of weight loss surgery. According to prosecutors, GET THIN scheduled patients for medically unnecessary sleep studies and then falsified the results to show that the patients had obstructive sleep apnea, often a trigger for insurance coverage of Lap-Band surgery. Dr. Zarrabi, an independent contractor of GET THIN, was accused of failing to review the falsified sleep study results, but the BGR team successfully demonstrated to the jury that the government’s chief cooperating witness, Charles Klasky, falsified the results after Dr. Zarrabi had performed his sleep study reviews.

FBI Director Chris Wray to Open the San Diego NAFUSA Conference

NAFUSA life time member Chris Wray was the keynote speaker at the last NAFUSA conference, held in San Francisco in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented holding conferences in 2020 and 2021. Our next conference is scheduled for April 6-8, 2022, at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Director Wray will return and open the conference with remarks at the Welcome Reception on the evening of April 6, 2022.

Christopher Wray became the eighth Director of the FBI on August 2, 2017.

Mr. Wray was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale University in 1989 and earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1992. He then clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 1993, he began working in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mr. Wray began his Department of Justice career in 1997 as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, where he prosecuted cases ranging from public corruption to gun trafficking and financial fraud. In 2001, he joined the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, where he served as associate deputy attorney general and then principal associate deputy attorney general, with oversight responsibilities spanning the full Department.

In 2003, Mr. Wray was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division. In addition to overseeing criminal matters, Mr. Wray played a key role in the evolving national security mission of the Department as it responded to the attacks on 9/11. He also served on the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and supervised the Enron Task Force and other major national and international fraud investigations. At the conclusion of his tenure, Mr. Wray was awarded the Edmund J. Randolph Award, the Department of Justice’s highest award for leadership and public service.

After leaving the Department of Justice in 2005, Mr. Wray returned to private practice at the law firm King & Spalding, where he chaired the Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group.

The Welcome Reception will be sponsored by our friends at Guidepost Solutions. Golf will be available on Wednesday morning, and CLE meeting will take place on Thursday and Friday mornings. The Planning Committee is putting together a very exciting program, details of which will appear on our website and in the monthly newsletter. The conference will conclude on Friday, April 8, with a dinner and a keynote speaker to be announced.

Registration will begin mid-January. Members will receive email invitations. The registration form will include an option for booking a room at the Del Coronado. It is suggested that you register early in order to assure a room.

 

Joe Whitley Discusses Enforcement Trends in Corporate Crime

NAFUSA member Joe Whitley joins his partner, Luke Cass, to discuss enforcement trends in corporate crime on the Womble Bond Dickinson “In-house Roundhouse” podcast. They discuss how white-collar enforcement priorities change when there is a new administration and how in 2021 the Biden Administration is implementing its own set of compliance priorities and enforcement emphasis.

Whitley and Cass find three takeaways from the discussion:

  • In recent remarks, top DOJ officials stated that DOJ will “surge resources” and “redouble efforts” for corporate enforcement.
  • Areas of particular concern include Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government contracting fraud, financial fraud, tax issues, and energy pricing benchmark manipulation.
  • Strong compliance programs must be top-down, with C-Suite executives enforcing the importance of compliance. Should problems occur, the first call should always be to legal counsel.

Click here to read “Biden Administration Prioritizes Corporate Criminal Enforcement.

Peter Vaira Writes of a Law School Class on Leadership

NAFUSA member Peter Vaira has published an article in The Legal Intelligencer entitled “Leadership as a Law School Class: Understanding What It Is and What It Is Not.” Vaira describes how “Duquesne University Law School now offers a full school year class in leadership. There is no particular law subject involved, just the concept of leader

Vaira is a member of Greenblatt, Pierce, Funt & Flores. He served as the United States Attorney for the ED of Pennsylvania 1978-1983.

Click here to read the article:

VAIRA Legal Intelligencer (11.08.21) Leadership as a Law School Class … Understanding What It Is and What It Is Not

 

Judge Conrad Writes of Saints of 500 Years Ago

Judge Robert J Conrad, Jr. (U.S. District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina) has published a new book John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads. Nearly 500 years after the deaths of the Saints, Judge Conrad examines their lives in a collection of stories “demonstrating how their sanctity and integrity carried them and those who loved them through tumultuous and heart-wrenching times which, perhaps surprisingly, bear a striking resemblance to the present epoch.”

Judge Conrad served as the United States Attorney for the WD of North Carolina from 2001 to 2004. He spoke on the Berger case and in particular Justice Sutherland’s quote on the role of a United States Attorney to seek justice at NAFUSA’s 2016 conference om San Diego.

Bill Price Biography Published

At War with Corruption is the biography of Bill Price, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Written by Michael J. Hightower, with a foreword by Oklahoma governor and NAFUSA member (ND Oklahoma 1981-1983) Frank Keating, the book details Price’s career in law and politics, which serves as a portal into corruption in Oklahoma. Episodes in that narrative include land swindles (soonerism) at the dawn of Oklahoma history; theft of Native Americans’ property and steamrolling of their cultures that reached a nadir in the Osage murders; the Supreme Court scandal of 1964–65; Leo Winters’ alleged misuse of state taxes (what was the treasurer doing with the people’s money?); Governor David Hall’s trial and conviction on charges of extortion; prosecutions of drug syndicates, Penn Square Bank insiders, and Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners on the take; and the systemic bribery in county governance that inspired this book. The book can be purchased on Amazon here.

Biden to Nominate Ken Wainstein as DHS Under Secretary

The White House announced at the end of the day yesterday that NAFUSA Vice President Ken Wainstein will be nominated as Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis. In addition to serving as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (2004-2006), Ken has served as the Homeland Security Advisor to former President George W. Bush; the first assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice; and chief of staff and general counsel at the FBI.

“Ken has decades of government experience at the highest levels. His deep expertise in national security, counterterrorism, and intelligence matters will benefit our Department and our Nation if he is confirmed,” Homeland Security and NAFUSA member Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

Wainstein is currently a partner at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Judge Gustave Diamond Dies at 93

Gustave Diamond, 93, former United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania and who served as the United States Attorney for the District (1963-1969) passed away at his home in McMurray, Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 30, 2021.

Judge Diamond attended Duke University on a football scholarship. He left Duke in 1946 to join the United States Navy, serving until 1948. Upon discharge from military service, he returned to Duke to finish his education under the GI Bill, graduated in 1951, and then worked at J&L Steel for one year before beginning night classes at Duquesne University School of Law.

After graduating from Duquesne in 1956, Judge Diamond served as a law clerk to federal Judge Rabe F. Marsh until 1961. Following his clerkship, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania as an Assistant United States Attorney and then First Assistant. He was appointed the United States Attorney for this District in February 1963, serving for a time under U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and he remained in that office until June 1969. He subsequently was in private practice in Pittsburgh and Washington County until 1978.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Diamond to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1978, and he later served as Chief Judge of the Court for two years. One of the most highly publicized cases he presided over was United States v. Curtis Strong, tried in 1985, which involved the sale of cocaine to well-known Major League Baseball players, who had been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony. The case attracted national interest, and the courtroom was filled to capacity for every court session, with half reserved for members of news media from around the country who covered the proceedings. Judge Diamond assumed Senior Judge status in 1994, and he maintained a full criminal case docket until his retirement on January 24, 2017.

During his 39 years on the bench, Judge Diamond was especially proud to have chaired the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services for five years. He also was extremely honored to have received the Century Club award as one of Duquesne University’s 100 outstanding graduates of its first century, the prestigious Solon Award of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association in 1993, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1998, and the Robert E. Dauer Award for Judicial Excellence given by Amen Corner in 2012.

Judge Diamond relished his time serving as a federal district judge and often commented that there was never a day that he was not happy to go to work. He made an indelible mark on the legal community in Western Pennsylvania and beyond, inspiring all who were fortunate enough to have worked with him as a colleague, served as one of his law clerks, tried cases before him, interacted with him in the courthouse, or knew him as a friend.

Judge Diamond is survived by his beloved wife of 48 years, Emma Scarton Yoney Diamond; daughter, Margaret Ann Diamond; grandson Elias Gustave Diamond; and brothers Nicholas Diamond and Stanley Diamond.

Funeral service will be held at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, 123 Gilkeson Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, 10-11AM. As is our custom, NAFUSA will request that an American flag be flown over Main Justice in Judge Diamond’s honor. It will be presented to his family as a token of the esteem with which he was held by his colleagues.

Judge Diamond is shown below with Attorney General Holder and NAFUSA member David Hickton (WD PA 2010-2016) who clerked for Judge Diamond (1981-1983)

AMI Podcast: Stern Interviews Coggins

NAFUSA sponsor Affiliated Monitors, Inc. has been producing a number of excellent podcasts. On Episode 19, NAFUSA Past President Don Stern interviews another NAFUSA Past President, Paul Coggins, about Paul’s practice and his writing career. Paul has recently published his second Cash McCahill novel, The Eye of the Tigress. 

Click here to to go directly to a player with the podcast:

Interview with Paul Coggins: Crime Fighter, Defender and Writer