Adam R. Tarosky, Criminal Defense Attorney in Washington, District of Columbia

Adam Tarosky is a member of the Government Investigations & White Collar Defense practice group. He is a recent alumnus of one of the most powerful offices in the Department of Justice (DOJ). The Civil Fraud Section, the clearinghouse for all False Claims Act (FCA) activity in the country, annually coordinates the recovery of over $3 billion from health care providers, defense contractors, and other entities and individuals that do business with the federal government. Adam uses the knowledge and insight that he obtained as a trial attorney with that office to counsel clients through FCA investigations, qui tam and government-initiated proceedings, and high-stakes litigation against whistleblowers and the United States.

Adam also represents clients facing administrative sanctions like federal program debarment, exclusion, revocation, or suspension; counsels health care providers and government contractors through audits and overpayment reviews; defends media organizations in First Amendment litigation; and maintains a robust general commercial litigation practice.

What do you focus on?

I represent clients in a variety of industries, including health care, government contracting, financial services, higher education, and telecommunications, facing government investigation and related litigation, primarily under the FCA, Anti-Kickback Statute, Civil Monetary Penalties Law, Stark Law, Contract Disputes Act, Truth in Negotiations Act, Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), and Federal Acquisition Regulation.

False Claims Act Compliance and Defense

I advise clients on compliance with these laws, manage internal investigations, direct responses to civil investigative demands from the DOJ and subpoenas from law enforcement agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), work to convince the DOJ and its client agencies that they should decline to prosecute FCA allegations or resolve them on favorable terms, and litigate FCA claims pursued by whistleblowers or the government through motions to dismiss, discovery, summary judgment, and trial. Throughout such representations, I quickly identify and carefully guide clients through potentially parallel criminal and administrative liability.

Advocacy before Government Agencies and Inspectors General

In addition to my FCA compliance and defense practice, I regularly advocate before federal agencies, including HHS-OIG, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Department of Defense, to protect providers from debarment, exclusion, revocation, suspension, and unduly burdensome corporate integrity agreements and monitorships. I also help clients respond effectively to government audits and overpayment reviews.

Navigation of Government Investigations Using Insider’s Instincts

Before joining Nixon Peabody, I served as a trial attorney in the DOJ’s Civil Fraud Section, the office that oversees nearly every FCA investigation, qui tam proceeding, litigation, and trial in the country. There, I led high-profile enforcement actions against, among others, the country’s highest paid Medicare cardiologist, the estate of a bank executive charged with misappropriating Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, and the former chief financial officer of a global professional services firm that overbilled the United States for reconstruction work in Iraq and Afghanistan. I investigated and resolved other matters short of litigation, including through settlements with a major purveyor of residential mortgage-backed securities and a nationwide mail-order pharmacy. Together, these efforts resulted in the recovery of over $100 million. I also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Major Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, prosecuting criminal actions involving trespass, assault, theft, drugs, weapons, and firearm-related offenses.

Prior to my government service, I was a senior associate at one of the most elite trial and white collar defense law firms in Washington, DC, and before that, I clerked for Judge Thomas M. Hardiman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Trial

Throughout my career, I have tried or assisted in trying over 20 civil and criminal cases, including a seminal consumer fraud matter involving allegedly inflated average wholesale drug prices. I took numerous other cases to the brink of trial, including FCA cases involving allegedly unnecessary inpatient admissions and fraud on a state Medicaid program’s sole community provider program.