 Eric L. Young, YLG's Managing Partner, is a seasoned trial lawyer with a distinguished track record in whistleblower litigation, employment litigation, commercial litigation, and class actions. In addition to helping secure the first-ever mandatory tax fraud whistleblower reward (22% of the IRS’ total amount recovered), Mr. Young has represented whistleblowers in several of the nation’s largest qui tam recoveries under federal and state false claims acts. Some recent significant recoveries include:
United States. ex. rel. Kruszewski v. Pfizer, Inc. On September 2, 2009, Pfizer, Inc. announced it agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct and to pay more than $2 billion in criminal and civil fines, penalties and damages to settle allegations made in multiple whistleblower lawsuits that the pharmaceutical giant defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other government-funded health care programs in connection with its market practices for four of its drugs. The settlement is one of the largest qui tam settlement in U.S. history.
United States ex. rel. Lucia Paccione v. Cephalon Inc., E.D.Pa., Case No. 036268. Mr. Young was co-lead counsel on behalf of Lucia Paccione, a former Cephalon sales representative who filed a qui tam complaint reporting America's largest biotechnology Medicaid fraud case. The case involved unlawful off-label marketing by Cephalon of drugs including Gabitril, Actiq, and Provigil. On September 29, 2008, it was announced that Ms. Paccione's qui tam complaint led to the federal and numerous state governments' recovery of $425 Million in a Civil Settlement.
U.S. ex rel. Joanne Curren v. Denver Health & Hospital Authority, 09-CV-01752. In January 2012, Young Law announced that Denver Health and Hospital Authority (“DHHA”) agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle allegations that the DHHA submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid by improperly submitting claims for short hospital stays as though they were “inpatient” stays when they should have been billed as less expensive “outpatient” or “observation” stays.
The qui tam suit was filed in 2009 pursuant to the False Claims Act, by Joanne Curren, a former DHHA employee. The False Claims Act is a law that enables private citizens (“whistleblowers”) with original information of fraud against the United States to file lawsuits on the government’s behalf. As an incentive for coming forward, whistleblowers are rewarded with a percentage of the government’s recovery.
Ms. Curren alleged that, as a result of the improper inpatient classifications, DHHA submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid in violation of the False Claims Act. Ms. Curren also asserted that she was retaliated against for having voiced her concerns about improper billings to her superiors. In fact, shortly after having internally reported her concerns, Ms. Curren’s employment was terminated.
Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Young honed his legal skills as General Counsel for the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776, one of the largest and most accomplished local unions in the nation. During his tenure as General Counsel for the UFCW, Mr. Young successfully executed a wide array of legal and political actions affecting the 24,000 member organization, including guiding the union's executive leadership on complex contract negotiations and spearheading labor arbitrations arising out of the organization's 90 different collective bargaining agreements.
Mr. Young began his litigation career at one of Philadelphia's premier commercial litigation firms and established an outstanding track record in healthcare fraud litigation, corporate investigations, and securities fraud litigation.
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 Peter A. Lennon, J.D., C.P.A.,is Senior Counsel at The Young Law Group and has specialized in the prosecution of complex civil cases involving complex tax fraud and violations of SEC Rules and Regulations for over fifteen years. Mr. Lennon is actively involved in all of the firm’s active IRS and SEC Whistleblower cases.
In addition to being an attorney, Mr. Lennon is also a Certified Public Accountant with considerable auditing experience and has an MBA in Economics/Finance. Mr. Lennon teaches Economics at West Chester University.
During the course of his legal career, Mr. Lennon has been involved in numerous high profile securities fraud cases against large public companies involving accounting improprieties and disclosure violations, including cases against Tyco, Xerox, Cendant, Waste Management and Nortel Networks, among others.
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 Edward Kang concentrates his practice in complex litigation matters, including whistleblower cases, securities fraud cases, and civil RICO cases. He was lead counsel in representing whistleblowers in patent qui tam actions, including U.S. ex. rel. Rogers v. Conair Corporation, (E.D.Pa. Civ. No. 10-01497) and U.S. ex. rel. Rogers v. Tristar Products, Inc. (E.D.Pa. Civ. No. 11- 01111).
Mr. Kang regularly tries cases involving fraud claims and other business tort claims in both jury and non-jury trials. He has won in court in all kinds of cases, including securities fraud claims under the Securities Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 and common law fraud claims relating to unfair business practice.
Mr. Kang began his legal career in a large international firm focusing his practice in intellectual property law involving, among others, patent misuse and antitrust issues, unfair competition under the Lanham Act, and drug competition cases under the Hatch-Waxman Act.
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 Gregory Mathews is a highly experienced lawyer specializing in a variety of complex litigation. He has represented parties in securities fraud cases, including Carlson et al. v. Xerox Corp. et al. (D.C. Conn. Civ. Action No. 3:00-cv-1621) and qui tam False Claims Act cases such as United States ex rel Atkinson v. Pa. Shipbuilding Co. et al. (E.D.Pa. Civ. Action No. 94-7316).
Before he entered private practice, Mr. Mathews served for four years on the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., where he was Special Counsel, Office of Disclosure Policy. As a member of the Commission’s Corporate Governance Project, he co-authored the Staff Report on Corporate Accountability (Committee Print, U.S. Senate 1980).
After heading the securities law practice of a Philadelphia law firm, in 1994, Mr. Mathews became in house counsel for a large banking institution. As Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, he managed an active docket of over 300 cases covering a broad range of claims, including class actions and SEC and NASD claims. In 2004, he returned to private practice.
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 Brandon J. Lauria, YLG Associate, Brandon J. Lauria is an experienced trial attorney who honed his litigation skills at one of Philadelphia’s most distinguished labor firms. Brandon has served as counsel in a wide-array of successful tax fraud, wage and hour, qui tam and whistleblower cases.
Mr. Lauria is admitted to practice in both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Lauria is also admitted to federal practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of Nebraska. He is an active member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. In addition to his bar affiliations, Mr. Lauria is also a member of the American Inns of Court as well as the Order Sons of Italy in America, Lodge #2217.
Mr. Lauria received a B.S. in Finance in 2001 from Jacksonville University and his J.D. in 2006 from the Widener University School of Law. While attending Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Lauria served as a law clerk at a prestigious civil litigation firm and actively participated in a pro bono legal services clinic for the aid of local indigents.
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The Qui Tam Team
