Whistleblower Claims

The most important question whistleblowers can ask a law firm:

“How can whistleblowers get their cases to the right people in government so they receive the attention they deserve?”

Finch McCranie’s lawyers offer unparalleled backgrounds to help bring attention to our clients’ whistleblower claims, including experience as:

  • Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the second highest-ranking position in the Justice Department, and U.S. Attorney
  • Director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the SEC, and the only former Senior Officer of the SEC who represents SEC and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) whistleblowers
  • Former federal prosecutors with experience in health care, securities, tax, government contracts, and the FCPA, among other areas
  • Counsel with 30+ years experience in representing clients in cases under the False Claims Act, and in other complex cases
  • Counsel sought out by Congress to help design the CFTC and SEC whistleblower laws, and by state legislators to help write state False Claims Acts
  • Counsel who filed some of the earliest IRS whistleblower claims

Any client who hires Finch McCranie LLP has the benefits of our entire whistleblower team’s combined decades of experience and judgment – years of working in senior leadership of the DOJ and the SEC, of successfully representing whistleblowers and other clients in difficult cases, and of building relationships with judges and government officials.

These experiences and relationships provide our clients an unparalleled opportunity to get our whistleblower claims the attention they deserve.

Our Whistleblower Team Includes:

All of our firm’s accomplished lawyers contribute to our whistleblower practice. Here are a few of them:

Picture of Michael A. Sullivan
Michael A. Sullivan
Partner
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

Michael A. Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor in fraud and corruption cases, leads our whistleblower practice. In three decades of working with the False Claims Act, he has won successful recoveries for our whistleblower clients in difficult, ground-breaking cases, including the largest health care fraud case in history in the nursing home industry. He was consulted by Congress as it wrote the law creating the SEC and CFTC Whistleblower Programs. He met with SEC and CFTC commissioners to help design their rules for whistleblower claims, and since then has also represented SEC whistleblowers and CFTC whistleblowers. At the request of legislators, he has helped write state False Claims Acts. He also has long experience in IRS whistleblower claims.

Picture of Larry D. Thompson
Larry D. Thompson
Of Counsel
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

Larry D. Thompson is the former U.S. Deputy Attorney General (2001-2003), the second highest-ranking position in the U.S. Department of Justice. As Deputy Attorney General, he led the Department of Justice’s National Security Coordination Council, as well as the government-wide Corporate Fraud Task Force. Mr. Thompson also served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia (1982-1986). He has also served as Independent Counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Investigation, and as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and General Counsel for PepsiCo. He also served as the Volkswagen AG Independence Compliance Monitor. He previously was a partner and co-founder of the special matters and government investigations practice at King & Spalding, LLP.

Picture of Walter Jospin
Walter Jospin
Partner
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

Walter E. Jospin is one of the only former senior officers of the SEC who now represents whistleblowers. His distinguished career in private practice and at the SEC has included serving as a trial attorney with the SEC’s Enforcement Division, where he broke new ground by litigating the first accounting case under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Over the next three decades, he established a successful private practice as a securities, corporate, and governance lawyer. From 2015 to January 2018, he served as the Director of the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office, before joining our firm. As SEC Regional Director, he supervised the Enforcement and Exam functions of the Atlanta office. Mr. Jospin’s experience and relationships allow us to identify which SEC offices and staff are most likely to produce a successful outcome for our SEC whistleblower clients.

Picture of Emma Cecil
Emma Cecil
Partner
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

Emma Cecil joined our firm’s whistleblower practice in 2018, after more than a decade of experience defending whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act and complex white-collar criminal cases. She began her career with a prestigious clerkship with a judge of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a frequent speaker on whistleblower cases. With deep experience in the False Claims Act and SEC issues, she is a fierce advocate for our whistleblower clients.

Picture of David Bouchard
David Bouchard
Partner
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

David Bouchard is an accomplished trial lawyer with broad civil and criminal experience in cases involving allegations of health care fraud and securities violations. His background includes advising clients on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) issues. He joined Finch McCranie in 2019 after gaining significant experience at a premier international law firm. At Finch McCranie, he has made significant contributions to our complex whistleblower claims.

Picture of Gabriel Knisely
Gabriel Knisely
Associate
Atlanta, GA
(404) 658-9070

Gabriel Knisely is a former federal court clerk who focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense, high stakes business litigation, and catastrophic personal injury. Gabriel enjoys representing people facing complex problems and helping them achieve winning solutions.

Whistleblower Lawyer Blog
Justia Lawyer Rating
Georgia Trial Lawyers Association
Best Law Firms 2019
Super Lawyers
Legal Elite
Martindale-Hubbell 2019