News
Goldberg Kohn is pleased to report that the U.S. Department of Justice will join a whistleblower lawsuit against Education Management Corporation (EDMC), one of the country's largest for-profit post-secondary educational institutions. Although many other for-profit colleges have been the target of such suits, this is the first time the government has intervened in one.
The qui tam suit alleges that EDMC pays illegal incentive payments to its student recruiters based on their success in enrolling students. These illegal payments induce recruiters to use high-pressure, and often misleading, sales tactics to enroll students ill-equipped for the programs. These students then pay the very expensive tuition with government loans that they are unable to pay back. The states of Illinois, California, Florida and Indiana have also joined the suit.
Goldberg Kohn attorneys David Chizewer, Bill Meyers and Courtney Baron are representing the two whistleblowers in this case, along with co-counsel Harry Litman and Tom Farrell. Mr. Chizewer was lead trial counsel for the whistleblower who obtained the largest jury verdict and judgment in the history of the Federal False Claims Act (United States ex rel. Tyson v. Amerigroup Illinois, Inc.). He was previously named Lawyer of the Year by Taxpayers Against Fraud and the Public Justice Foundation.