Thomas M. Greene

Attorney Thomas M. Greene is a top-rated, nationally recognized trial attorney in whistleblower litigation and in other types of complex civil litigation, such as personal injury and consumer protection.  Since 1992, Greene has represented qui tam whistleblowers in False Claims Act cases across the country in a variety of industries, with successes in defense, public utilities and customs duties cases, and in several segments of the health care industry.

Greene’s national reputation among whistleblower attorneys was established in litigation against the pharmaceutical industry.  Greene pioneered the off-label promotion type of False Claims Act litigation in a 1996 case against a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, which he pursued for 8 years without government intervention until it settled in 2004 for $430 million in civil fines and criminal penalties.  Since then, the government has recovered more than $14 billion in off-label promotion cases—nearly half of all funds ever recovered under the 150-year-old law.

As managing partner of Greene LLP, Greene oversees a six-attorney operation that has maintained a reputation for leaving no stone unturned.  The firm’s low-volume approach means it can devote its resources to the goals of maximizing return in the cases it does take, inside and outside of the courtroom.  Among Greene’s litigation successes that each involved investigations of millions of documents: a 2010 civil RICO trial that resulted in a $142 million jury verdict, a 2014 pharmaceutical class action settlement of $325 million, and a 2015 False Claims Act settlement of $231 million with a drug testing laboratory.

Just as few firms can compete with Greene LLP’s experience and skill in investigating and prosecuting fraud, few are better versed on the nuances of the False Claims Act and its retaliation protections, the law of which Greene LLP has helped to shape.  In 2016, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the firm’s favor in Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar, resolving a split among Circuit Courts of Appeal and unanimously holding for the first time that “implied certification” cases—in which material half-truths about goods and services constitute fraud on the government—are viable types of False Claims Act cases.

For his work, Greene has been featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, on NBC’s “Dateline,” and on National Public Radio.  He is a frequent speaker on False Claims Act and other fraud litigation, including before a committee of the United States House of Representatives.