White Collar Defense & Government Investigations

• Appointed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, to defend a former employee of an automotive dealership against federal criminal conspiracy and theft charges. After the close of the government's case during a week-long jury trial, successfully argued that the lead count in the indictment should be dismissed because the government failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. After presenting defense case, the jury found client not guilty on the remaining three counts, thereby completely exonerating the client. All of the other defendants in the case either pled guilty or were convicted at trial.
• Defended former company president of a major food processing company who received a "target" letter from the government in connection with a nationally publicized investigation into possible criminal immigration offenses. Through a series of presentations, convinced the government to rescind the target letter and bestow derivative and use immunity upon client.
• Represented a hospital in significant litigation against a former physician employee and executive. The case involves several claims and counterclaims relating to the physician's departure from employment with our client and his decision to work for a competitor hospital in violation of his non-competition covenant, as well as disputes relating to compensation issues. After extensive discovery, defeated the physician's motion for summary judgment as to the alleged unenforceability of his non-competition covenant and convinced the Court to grant summary judgment for the hospital on physician’s tort claims. The case is pending before the Georgia Court of Appeals.
• Represented the interests of a hospital system that was the victim of a complex investment fraud scheme. Worked with attorneys from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Attorney's Office in civil and criminal enforcement actions brought against investment manager and investment consultant and prosecuted a private civil action directly against investment consultant.
• Represented the interests of a co-owner of a hedge fund in a criminal insider trading investigation. Convinced the Department of Justice not to indict our client even though the Department of Justice indicted the other owner of the hedge fund.
• Represented a law firm in a government investigation and related civil proceedings involving allegations that deceased managing partner stole millions of dollars of client trust funds over many years.
• Litigated lengthy evidentiary hearing in habeas case filed by individual sentenced to 30 years in prison for a large fraud scheme and argued case on appeal, which resulted in a published Eleventh Circuit decision.*

* Denotes experience of team members prior to joining Parker Hudson.

• Client Alert, DOJ Launches Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, Signaling New Risks for Healthcare Providers (May 22, 2025)
• David A. O’Neal, featured, "DOJ Puts New Target On Medicare Advantage 'Steering'," Law360 Healthcare Authority (May 13, 2025)
• David A. O’Neal, panelist, "Enforcement Panel," Georgia Academy of Healthcare Attorneys (GAHA) 2025 Annual Meeting and Health Law Update, Georgia Hospital Association (May 9, 2025)
• David A. O’Neal, co-presenter, "The Promise and Peril of Telehealth: Practice, Reimbursement, and Government Enforcement," American Health Law Association (AHLA) 2025 Telemedicine: Legal and Compliance Issues Conference (March 11, 2025)
• Bob Brennan and David A. O’Neal, presenters, "When the Feds Come Knocking: What Physician Practices Need to Know," (February 4, 2025)
• David A. O’Neal, presenter, "Cybersecurity Enforcement and Compliance," Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) Orlando Regional Conference (January 31, 2025)
• David A. O’Neal, co-presenter, "Enforcement Updates," Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) Atlanta Regional Conference (January 23, 2025)
• Client Alert, Sweeping Changes Proposed to the HIPAA Security Rule (January 22, 2025)
• David O’Neal, presenter, "Cybersecurity Law: Highlights and Headlines CLE," Atlanta Bar Association’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Section (November 6, 2024)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Commercial Payor Disputes and the No Surprises Act," State Bar of Georgia Advanced Health Law Seminar (November 1, 2024)
• David O’Neal, co-Author, "Three Years of the DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative: Examining the Government’s Lawsuit Against Georgia Tech and its Implications for the Health Care Industry," American Health Law Association’s Fraud and Abuse Practice Group Briefing (October 31, 2024)
• Client Alert, Federal Court Rules Whistleblower Provision of False Claims Act is Unconstitutional (October 14, 2024)
• Client Alert, Beware of Whistleblower Provisions: Recent Legal Actions Highlight Risks in Employment and Separation Agreements (September 18, 2024)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Enforcement, Fraud & Abuse Panel," Georgia Hospital Association 2024 Georgia Academy of Healthcare Attorneys Annual Meeting and Health Law Update (May 10, 2024)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Criminal and Civil Opioid Enforcement," State Bar of Georgia Health Care Fraud Institute (December 7, 2023)
• Bob Brennan, co-presenter, "False Claims Act Enforcement and Litigation: Impact on Compliance Operations," Tennessee Hospital Association Annual Fall Compliance Conference (October 26, 2023)
• Bob Brennan, contributor, "Ga. Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2023," Law360 (July 21, 2023)
• Bob Brennan, presenter, “Known Knowns, Known Unknowns, and Unknown Unknowns: Dealing With Uncertainty In Compliance Planning and Risk Assessments,” Georgia Hospital Association Compliance Officers Retreat (September 8, 2022)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Emerging Trends in Non-Healthcare FCA Cases," Second Annual False Claims Act Summit (December 9, 2020)
• Bob Brennan, featured, "Agility and Speed Disrupting the Future of Health Law," American Health Law Association docuseries "Health Law Disruption: 2030 and Beyond" (October 22, 2020)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "False Claims Act/Compliance Update," Warren Averett Healthcare Symposium (September 30, 2020)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "False Claims Act - Ethical & Legal Dilemmas for Relator & Defense Counsel," 2020 Whistleblower Law Symposium (February 2020)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "Legal Ethics: Internal Investigations and the Attorney Client Privilege in Fraud Investigations," Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, (January 2020)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "How to Successfully Defend Businesses and Individuals in FCA Cases," False Claims Act Summit (May 2019)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "Legislative/CON/Medicaid Expansion Update," GAHA Annual Meeting & Law Update (2019)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "Defense and Avoidance of False Claims Act Investigations," Tennessee Hospital Association Fall Compliance Conference (2018)
• Bob Brennan, speaker, "Perspectives in Affirmative Civil Enforcement Litigation," Presentation with current Assistant United States Attorney to the 2018 Court Advisory Committee Conference, United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (2018)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Hot Topics in White Collar Crime," ICLE White Collar Crime Seminar (2018)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Hot Topics in Qui Tam Cases," ICLE Whistleblower Law Symposium (2018)
• Bob Brennan, panelist, "Strategies and Considerations in Healthcare Fraud Cases," ICLE White Collar Crime Conference (2013)