Young Law Group’s founder, Eric L. Young is a seasoned member of the plaintiff’s bar with a distinguished track record in whistleblower litigation. Eric is AV-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell – the highest distinction for legal experience and ethics. In addition to securing the first-ever mandatory tax fraud whistleblower award, Eric has represented whistleblowers in several of the nation’s largest qui tam recoveries under federal and state False Claims Acts. Eric has represented whistleblowers ranging from blue-collar workers to C-suite executives in the United States as well as Great Britain, China, Hong Kong, India, and South Africa.
The preeminent organization promoting whistleblowers’ rights, Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund. honored Eric as one of two Lawyers of the Year (2020) for achieving justice for three clients in two separate whistleblower cases against mega-pharmaceutical manufacturers, Novartis and Teva, resulting in settlements exceeding $800 million.
Eric’s record of accomplishments has distinguished him as one of the nation’s leading whistleblower attorneys. As Young Law Group’s managing partner, his primary focus is counseling clients who contemplate reporting corporate fraud to the government. He regularly represents relators in qui tam actions filed under the False Claims Act, as well as clients providing information under the whistleblower programs of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service.
In addition to his considerable litigation experience, Eric acted as an expert witness in one of the largest tax whistleblower cases to date. He was retained as an expert to evaluate evidence regarding banker Bradley Birkenfeld’s $104 million IRS Whistleblower Award for reporting the Swiss-based Bank, UBS’s practices that helped account holders to evade tax liability in the United States.
When the IRS whistleblower office implemented a mandatory award program under section 7623(b) of the IRS code, Eric represented the first whistleblower to receive such an award. His client, a corporate accountant for a Fortune 500 company, received $4.5 million for providing information about the company’s tax evasion scheme. The client’s identity was protected from disclosure throughout the process, and the individual remains anonymous to this day. Eric has further distinguished himself as one of a select few attorneys who have successfully secured numerous multi-million-dollar whistleblower awards from the IRS.
The media often seek Eric’s opinion when a high-profile whistleblower case makes the headlines, and his commentary on whistleblower-related issues has been published on sites including Forbes, The Hill, the Delaware Business Court Insider, and the Corporate Crime Reporter. Eric has been interviewed by Fox News and been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Accounting Today.
Eric is a regular speaker at industry organizations about his experience and expertise representing whistleblower clients. He participated in a roundtable organized by the International Ethics Standards Board of Accountants to discuss proposed changes to the code of ethics that would allow accountants to report suspected fraud. He has also presented to the Anti-Corruption and FCPA Compliance Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in India.
In addition to his groundbreaking work in the causes of whistleblowers, Eric has represented employee benefit plans in class action cases involving securities fraud, anti-trust violations, and health care fraud.
Before starting his career as a whistleblower attorney, Eric served as general counsel to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, one of the largest local unions in the United States. In that capacity, Eric represented over 40,000 members in contract negotiations and labor arbitrations involving nearly 100 collective bargaining agreements.
Eric is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
In his spare time, Eric enjoys participating in triathlon competitions, and watching his son, Jack, play sports.
