WEBVTT - FBI Whistleblower Unit in Jeopardy After Sting (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Jeffrey Werkin's arrest in early February was a stunner. The

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<v Speaker 1>former Justice Department attorney was accused of trying to sell

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<v Speaker 1>a confidential lawsuit filed by a whistleblower to the company

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<v Speaker 1>being targeted. He was arrested in a Silicon Valley hotel

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<v Speaker 1>lobby where he was using a false name, wearing a wig,

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<v Speaker 1>and carrying a seal, allegedly carrying a sealed complaint that

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<v Speaker 1>he was planning to sell for three ten thousand dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>A new Bloomberg News story says FBI agents are now

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<v Speaker 1>asking questions at the Justice Department, trying to determine how

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<v Speaker 1>Wortkin got the complaint and whether he sold other secrets

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<v Speaker 1>while working at the Department's Medicare fraud unit. Wortkin has

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<v Speaker 1>yet to enter a plea, and his lawyer has declined

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<v Speaker 1>to comment with us to talk about the case. David Stone,

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<v Speaker 1>senior managing partner of the law firm Stone and Man,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna mess this up. David Man man Ganini and

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<v Speaker 1>Nola J. Hitchcock Cock Cross, managing attorney at the Cross

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<v Speaker 1>Law Firm. I'm having less trouble pronouncing that. Welcome to you, both,

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<v Speaker 1>David H. Let's start with you tell us why this

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<v Speaker 1>complaint that work Can is accused of trying to sell

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<v Speaker 1>was under seal in the first place. Well, Um, the

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<v Speaker 1>False Claims Act, which is a federal statute, provides that

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<v Speaker 1>private individuals who blow the whistle on fraud against the

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<v Speaker 1>government can bring cases on behalf of the government. But

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<v Speaker 1>those cases must be filed under seal in order to

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<v Speaker 1>give the government the opportunity to investigate the case and

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<v Speaker 1>determine whether they want to proceed with the case or not.

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<v Speaker 1>And the statute requires that the case be kept under

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<v Speaker 1>seal for at least sixty days, although it can be

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<v Speaker 1>extended for good cause, and often is extended for good cause. So, Nola,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of secrecy surrounding the Justice Department lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>investigating the whistle blower claims. Where could he have gotten

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<v Speaker 1>the information besides from another colleague. Well, let me first

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<v Speaker 1>say there's a couple of other reasons for the you

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<v Speaker 1>and why it's very important and particularly also why it's

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<v Speaker 1>important to relators, um, because when the relators file the complaint, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>oftentimes are the people who are the whistleblowers right, sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>called whistleblowers. Under the statutes, they're called relators. Yes, those

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<v Speaker 1>are the whistleblowers. And and very frequently the whistleblowers are

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<v Speaker 1>current employees. So a very important reason for this seal

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<v Speaker 1>process under the statue, which is highly unusual in any

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<v Speaker 1>federal law, is is to protect the identity of the

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<v Speaker 1>whistleblowers themselves, of their laders exactly. And and and another reason

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<v Speaker 1>which is extremely important to the government is UM that

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<v Speaker 1>because of the first to file rule UM, when a

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<v Speaker 1>whistleblower is filing such a complaint, they have no knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>whether twenty other people have already filed, and in fact

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<v Speaker 1>they will not be entitled to any UM share in

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<v Speaker 1>any recovery. And yet they, because of the seal process,

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<v Speaker 1>they provide all of their information as a government, giving

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<v Speaker 1>the government an opportunity to get multiple UM whistleblowers to

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<v Speaker 1>provide information. UM. He had to the access to the

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<v Speaker 1>complaints UM. The UM he was not a Department of

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<v Speaker 1>Justice employee at the time of the alleged act UM

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<v Speaker 1>he was until I believe April of two thousand sixteen, UM.

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<v Speaker 1>And there have been some reports that UM, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>speculations that he may have taken UM other UM complaints

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<v Speaker 1>that he was working on. UM. One question for the

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<v Speaker 1>Department of Justice there would be whether there's a fire

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<v Speaker 1>firewall and UM, what access there would be generally to

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<v Speaker 1>to all of them that are filed. David, how did

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about the Jeffrey Working case in particular, how

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<v Speaker 1>how did he come to the attention of UH, the

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<v Speaker 1>FBI and the first place. So what happened in this

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<v Speaker 1>case is that jeff we war Getten, who was formerly

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<v Speaker 1>a member of the Department of Justice and worked on

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<v Speaker 1>these cases and therefore had access to these cases, but

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<v Speaker 1>had left the Department and was now a partner in

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<v Speaker 1>a in a well known law firm, UM private law firm,

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<v Speaker 1>contacted an individual at one of the defendants UH that

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<v Speaker 1>was a defendant under this False Claims Act case that

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<v Speaker 1>was under seal, and offered to give them information about

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<v Speaker 1>the case, give them a copy of the sealed complaint

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<v Speaker 1>which they wouldn't otherwise have access to. And that individual

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<v Speaker 1>apparently contacted the FBI, and the FBI carried out a

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<v Speaker 1>sting operation. So, Nola, they're going to have to be

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<v Speaker 1>reviewing his cases, and how will that affect his cases

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<v Speaker 1>and the other cases in the office well, like I

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<v Speaker 1>I indicated, there may need to be a review beyond

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<v Speaker 1>what cases were signed to him, depending upon what firewall

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<v Speaker 1>may have been in place and what access UM in

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<v Speaker 1>the investigative UM attorney in the Department of Justice would

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<v Speaker 1>have had. UM. You know, he may have had access

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<v Speaker 1>to a larger kind of play. But I do want

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<v Speaker 1>to emphasize, though, and going over this, that this is

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<v Speaker 1>such an aberration and so shocking to everyone because of

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<v Speaker 1>the exceedingly high level of professionalism that we experience as

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<v Speaker 1>related council with SIBIL or counsel um with the Department

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<v Speaker 1>of Justice. David, do you do you agree with that?

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<v Speaker 1>Have you seen anything like this before. I've never seen

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<v Speaker 1>anything like this before, and there was you know, well,

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<v Speaker 1>I have disagreements about certain things. I mean, Jeffrey Workin

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<v Speaker 1>was the key d o J lawyer on a number

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<v Speaker 1>of cases I was involved in where the government did

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<v Speaker 1>not intervene, and I didn't agree with those hittance. I

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<v Speaker 1>never agree with those decisions, Um, But you know, I

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<v Speaker 1>did hear from other people that you know, he was

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<v Speaker 1>a very aggressive advocate for other cases. So it certainly

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<v Speaker 1>came as a complete surprise that this happened. And I

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<v Speaker 1>would say this is an aberration. But what I would

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<v Speaker 1>say about this case is that he left with at

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<v Speaker 1>least one, apparently one seal complaint, which clearly is not legal,

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<v Speaker 1>and the fact that he had at least one sealed

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<v Speaker 1>complaints suggests that maybe he had more than one. He

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<v Speaker 1>is assigned as the key point person on a number

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<v Speaker 1>of these false claims cases a year, and he also

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<v Speaker 1>potentially has access to other False Claims Act complaints that

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<v Speaker 1>are under sealed because because as Nolan mentioned, he has

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<v Speaker 1>to determine whether there's a first to file issue that

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<v Speaker 1>he has to tell lawyers about. So he had access

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<v Speaker 1>not only to his own complaints, but presumably to other ones,

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<v Speaker 1>and certainly in terms of decisions where the government did

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<v Speaker 1>not intervene in cases that he was involved in. If

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<v Speaker 1>there's any inkling that he was doing this while he

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<v Speaker 1>was at d o J, I think it's really important

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<v Speaker 1>that those cases be you know, we examined to determine

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<v Speaker 1>that those intervention decisions were made properly and that those

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<v Speaker 1>were leaders were treated properly. I want to thank our guest,

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<v Speaker 1>David Stone of Stone and Manganini and Nola J. Hitchcock

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<v Speaker 1>Hitchcock Cross of the Cross Law Firm, talking about the

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<v Speaker 1>case of Jeffrey workin