Mr. Newton has more than 30 years of experience investigating, prosecuting, litigating, and monitoring criminal, civil, and parallel financial and health care fraud allegations and addressing collateral compliance consequences nationally as a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent, Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), independent corporate monitor, and as an attorney in private practice.
Mr. Newton has more than 30 years of experience investigating, prosecuting, litigating, and monitoring criminal, civil, and parallel financial and health care fraud allegations and addressing collateral compliance consequences nationally as a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent, Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), independent corporate monitor, and as an attorney in private practice.
Litigation, Monitoring and Investigations
Mr. Newton's national defense practice focuses on government investigations and prosecutions, parallel criminal and civil health care fraud cases, independent monitorships, complex internal investigations, and "bet the company" commercial litigation. He represents global, public, and large private companies, including the leading global public financial services company and several subsidiaries; the oldest and largest health care company in the U.S.; the largest global health carrier (by revenue) and its global subsidiary; the largest military shipbuilding company in the U.S.; the largest physician-owned Medicare Advantage health maintenance organization (HMO) in the U.S.; a public pharmacy; and numerous others. He also served as the Independent Review Organization (IRO) monitor for the ninth largest public health system in the country.
Mr. Newton has more than 25 years of experience prosecuting and defending virtually every type of provider, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, hospital systems, managed care organizations (MCOs), HMOs, physician practices, and others in parallel criminal/civil/administrative False Claims Act (FCA) and qui tams, Stark and Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS)/FCA bootstrapped cases, which are considered the most complex of litigation matters. He has also defended cases investigated by the FBI, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and United States Department of Health and Human Service Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Mr. Newton provides guidance to boards of directors, audit committees, and C-suite management about the impact of fraud allegations on enterprise governance, compliance, and risk management. He regularly responds to grand jury investigations, including leading responsive internal investigations, addressing search warrants, subpoenas, seizure of assets, preparing witness testimony, production of records, leading litigation, negotiating settlements and/or pleas, trying cases, preparing and negotiating compliance programs, and other remedial administrative measures. Mr. Newton has extensive entity corporate integrity monitoring and systems review experience. He assists with managing risk in mergers and acquisitions by offering due diligence support, evaluation, and advice. Mr. Newton also assists with compliance issues, enforcement trends, regulatory issues, voluntary disclosures, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, and medical staff issues.
Disaster Recovery and Government Services
Following Hurricane Katrina, appointed by Governor Haley Barbour as Special Counsel to the Governor's Commission for Recovery. To continue serving impacted communities, he initiated and led Baker Donelson's Disaster Recovery and Government Services Team. He organized a team of strategic partners to develop and implement the financial management oversight processes used by the state in its recovery. The team provided public clients with project and financial management oversight, legal and compliance advice, grant administration and determination appeals services under HUD's $5.5B Community Development Block Grant program to rebuild housing, infrastructure, and economic development projects, estimated $3.2B FEMA Public Assistance Program to repair/replace damaged public infrastructure, and $2.5B FEMA National Flood Insurance program to help rebuilding/relocation. GAO Reports to the United States Senate Homeland Security Committee praised the processes for their innovation as leading practice and the Firm gained a national reputation as one of the only law firms in the country serving public clients in substantive project management and disaster recovery guidance.
Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of Mississippi and Western District of Louisiana (1997 – 2003)
As an AUSA, Mr. Newton prosecuted violations of federal laws with felony trials in narcotics trafficking and economic crime cases, as well as misdemeanor trials in environmental and other cases. He tried and convicted Fidel Ayala, a Los Angeles County methamphetamine trafficker with a national network, which included convicted co-conspirators, obtaining the first life sentence in a narcotics case in the Southern District of Mississippi. The case was the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics "2001 Case of the Year." The national interagency collaborative investigation was conducted by the DEA, US Customs, and FBI in Mississippi and California.
Mr. Newton also initiated and, for more than a year, led a high-profile judicial bribery investigation that eventually resulted in the convictions of two state trial court judges and nationally prominent plaintiff's attorneys.
As the AUSA for Health Care Fraud Enforcement, Mr. Newton successfully prosecuted approximately 200 health care fraud cases, recovering more than $20 million for the Medicare Trust Fund. As part of a national Department of Justice (DOJ)/HHS Medicare initiative, he prosecuted 121 hospitals, including a national hospital chain, recovering more than $10 million. The settlement with the national hospital chain resulted in the largest health care fraud recovery in Mississippi's history. He is a two-time recipient of the HHS Inspector General's "Integrity Award," the highest honor bestowed on individuals outside the agency. He was appointed as representative to the DOJ's Health Care Fraud Working Group. Mr. Newton also successfully defended numerous federal agencies in civil litigation and has tried Federal Torts Claims Act cases.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Salt Lake City Division (1991 – 1997)
Mr. Newton led Bonneville Pacific Corporation investigation, which was called "America's first corporate scandal case" by former DOJ senior official – a successful, nationally high profile, estimated $600 million securities fraud, international money laundering (offshore bank accounts in Switzerland and Bahamas), tax evasion, and bank fraud investigation of a publicly traded alternative energy company and its nationally known accounting, investment banking, and law firms. The chairman of the board, CEO, and three managing directors, who inflated stock prices and diverted millions offshore, were convicted. The case was the lead story in The Wall Street Journal and Barron's due to its significance, complexity, novelty, and involvement of the then-mayor of Salt Lake City and two former Utah governors.
Mr. Newton was appointed as FBI representative to the U.S. Securities and Commodities Task Force. He initiated and directed the successful undercover case "Stamp Out," the first FBI effort aimed at electronic benefit card and food stamp fraud. He directed the successful "Fast Track" program, significantly deterring bank fraud in Salt Lake City. He also worked on the FBI's largest national undercover telemarketing case in a supporting undercover role, the Montana Freemen Standoff, and the Unabomber case. Mr. Newton made arrests, executed search warrants, and worked on Title IIIs supporting the Violent Crimes Task Force. During his tenure with the FBI, he served as a Relief Supervisory Special Agent.