Goodwin Procter is bringing aboard former federal prosecutor Ilene Albala to handle the increasing False Claims Act scrutiny by the Biden administration.
Albala, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, is part of the firm’s expansion of the complex litigation and dispute resolution and healthcare practices as a partner in Washington.
In the Eastern District, Albala was lead counsel for the federal government in False Claims Act qui tam litigation and supervised federal agents and collaborating FBI and FDA offices, among others. She led investigations of medical device manufacturers, hospital systems, clinical laboratories, diagnostic testing facilities and private equity investors in healthcare.
She joins Goodwin at a time of increased False Claims Act enforcement. In 2021 alone, the Justice Department obtained more than $5.6 billion in judgments and settlements involving fraud and false claims against the government, the second largest annual total in the statute’s history.
The healthcare industry accounted for about $5 billion of the total, and that trend that will likely continue under the Biden administration, Albala said. “This administration has made clear that this is just the beginning,” she said.
Albala, a former Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe associate, first joined the Eastern District in 2018 from the Justice Department, where she served as a...
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