Adam B. Resnick

Adam B. Resnick (born March 10, 1972) is an American health care entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and professional whistleblower. His 2007 book Bust: How I Gambled and Lost a Fortune, Brought Down a Bank-and Lived to Pay for It is an autobiography describing his early addiction to gambling and how he, in a bank fraud conspiracy, contributed to the 2002 failure of Universal Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, Illinois.[1][2] Resnick was convicted for his role in the fraud and served 19 months in federal prison. His life story has been discussed as the subject for a motion picture, documentary or television mini series.[3]

Resnick has since played a significant part in exposing Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the institutional pharmaceutical business.

Omnicare whistleblower lawsuits

Resnick has been involved in suing Omnicare, a supplier of drugs to nursing homes, under federal whistleblower law, as well as the parties to the company’s alleged kickback schemes. Resnick filed suit to punish Omnicare for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Omnicare allegedly paid kickbacks to nursing home operators in order to secure additional business.

"If nursing homes take kickbacks, decisions they make about drugs for their residents ultimately may be based on financial benefits to the nursing homes rather than medical benefits for their patients," Resnick said after a settlement was reached in 2010 with two nursing chains he sued.[4]

Mariner Health Care & SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services

In 2006, Resnick filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act against Omnicare and two nursing homes owned by Leonard Grunstein and Rubin Schron. The U.S. Department of Justice joined the lawsuit in December 2008, and Omnicare settled by paying $19.8 million to the federal government in November 2010. Omnicare denied any wrongdoing. Subsequently, the two nursing homes also charged in the lawsuit, Mariner Health Care Inc. and SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services L.L.C., paid $14 million in February 2010 to settle their part in the alleged fraud. The two nursing home chains allegedly solicited kickbacks from Omnicare in exchange for 15-year contracts to utilize Omnicare's pharmacy services.[5][6]

Total Pharmacy Services

In June 2013, Omnicare settled its part of a whistleblower lawsuit filed against it by Resnick and Maureen Nehls related to its 2004 acquisition of Total Pharmacy Services. Sued for illegally paying kickbacks to the owners of Total Pharmacy, Omnicare agreed to settle the suit by paying $17.2 million to the federal government.[7]

Nursing home owners the Esformes family, who sold their share in Total Pharmacy to Omnicare in return for the kickback, agreed to pay the government $5 million. Total Pharmacy provides pharmacy services to institutions such as nursing homes. The terms of the acquisition were in violation of federal and state laws.[8]

Omnicare previously settled a complaint with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts stemming from the deal for $98 million.[7]

Nehls was a vice president of Total Pharmacy and Resnick was to the deal eir 2007 lawsuit alleged that the price paid by Omnicare for Total, $32 million,as greatly inflated by the kickback paid to the Esformes family. As part of the deal, the Esformes family signed a 10-year pharmacy contract with Omnicare for their chain of nursing homes.[7] Such kickbacks constitute Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Under federal whistleblower laws, the plaintiffs will receive 28% of the Omnicare recovery (worth roughly $4.8 million) and 25-30% of the recovery from the Esformes family (worth from $1.25 million to $1.5 million). The Esformes family also agreed to pay almost $1 million in the plaintiffs’ attorneys' fees.[8]

The settlement, which was reached days before suit was scheduled to go to trial, did not include an admission of wrongdoing by the Esformes family.<ref name="Nursing home execs"

Restitution

In 2009, Resnick, decided to use substantial part of his $3.1 million award from his first Omnicare whistleblower lawsuit to pay restitution to the U.S. government for his role in the 2002 Universal Federal Savings Bank failure. Through an unprecedented arrangement worked out by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Resnick’s restitution was forwarded to Universal’s former employees and depositors. Not only has everyone who lost money when the bank failed been made whole, but, as the Chicago Journal reported, Resnick’s restitution is also being given to “regular bank customers who didn’t lose a penny when Universal collapsed.” The FDIC says this case marks the first time in history that the U.S. government has received restitution money after it had closed receivership on a failed bank.[9]

Malpractice lawsuit

Resnick also sued the Chicago law firm of Neal, Gerber and Eisenberg for legal malpractice over a multi-million dollar contract dispute alleging that they represented both Resnick and the contracting party. The $20 million dispute was settled in an out of court settlement through arbitration.[10]

Awards and recognitions

In 2006, Resnick was presented with a Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart Award by Chinmoy Centres International for his “dedication to international development charities."

Writings

The Chicago Sun-Times called Resnick’s book, Bust: How I Gambled and Lost a Fortune, Brought Down a Bank-and Lived to Pay for It,[11] “entertaining.”[12] The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called it a “wild ride.”[13]

Resnick is also the author of numerous articles and editorials, including

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, David; Marx, Gary (26 February 2010). "East Coast nursing home chains settle kickback allegations". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ↑ Still Reverberating - Chicago Journal
  3. ↑ Whitehouse, Kaja (Nov. 30, 2012). "Reel Life Drama: SAC Exec's Wild Tale." New York Post. Retrieved Dec. 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Prominent New York City Real Estate Investor, Attorney and Atlanta Nursing Home Chains Pay $14 Million to Settle Whistleblower Kickback Case". PR Newswire. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Sachdev, Ameet (11 February 2010). "Scheme's victims seeking restitution". Chicago Tribune.
  6. ↑ Ameet, Sachdev (11 February 2010). "Scheme's victims Scheme's victims seeking restitution FDIC could get most of payment; FDIC could get most of payment". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 Monk, dan (16 July 2013). "Omnicare settles whistleblower case in Illnois". Scripps Media. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  8. 1 2 Jackson, David & Gary Marx (6 August 2013). "Nursing home execs agree to pay $5 million to settle suit". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  9. ↑ Ten Years After a Bank Collapsed, Former Customers Are Getting Their Money Back And More – Chicago Journal
  10. ↑ Appellate Court Affirms Law Firm’s Right to Arbitration (press release) - Novack and Macey
  11. ↑ Bust: How I Gambled and Lost a Fortune, Brought Down a Bank-and Lived to Pay for It - Amazon.com
  12. ↑ Wisniewski, Mary. Win, Lose or Finagle: Long Grove Gambling Junkie Adam Resnick Tells the Tale of His Costly Compulsion – Chicago Sun-Times, July 29, 2007
  13. ↑ Area Writers Working Their Own Magic – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Additional sources

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