Jeremy M. Sternberg

Jeremy Sternberg is a partner in Holland & Knight's Boston office and serves as the practice group leader for the firm's Boston Litigation Group. He practices in the area of litigation with a particular emphasis on white collar criminal defense, government enforcement and complex business disputes. Mr. Sternberg has extensive jury trial experience and focuses his practice on representing clients involved in complex disputes, including criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions by government enforcement agencies. He regularly represents clients in the healthcare industry, including health plans, healthcare providers (including telehealth), hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device companies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and pharmacies on enforcement, compliance and litigation matters. He also counsels clients in the financial services industry, including on securities, and more recently the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), and related enforcement matters. In addition, he works with clients in the education industry on investigations of alleged misconduct, including Title IX matters, and compliance issues and protocols.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Sternberg served as a federal prosecutor in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. In that position, he investigated and prosecuted cases involving investment fraud, tax fraud, mortgage fraud and insider trading. Mr. Sternberg also served in that office's Health Care Fraud Unit as deputy chief of that unit from 2008 to 2012. In that position, he was dedicated to the prosecution of complex healthcare fraud matters, many involving Fortune 100 global drug and device manufacturers on issues such as off-label promotion, best price fraud, clinical research fraud, drug and device adulteration, billing fraud and obstruction. Additionally, Mr. Sternberg worked in the Civil Division, litigating affirmative and defensive cases on behalf of the government, including qui tam cases. As a result of his experience with the U.S. Attorney's Office, he has an in-depth understanding of the civil and criminal trial and appeals processes. In addition to trying a number of cases to verdict, Mr. Sternberg has also argued civil and criminal cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Mr. Sternberg was a partner in the Boston office of an Am Law 100 firm and worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge William Acker Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Mr. Sternberg has regularly taught a course on healthcare fraud as an adjunct professor at Northeastern University School of Law.

Representative Matters

• Achieved a complete defense verdict on behalf of defendants in a virtual nonjury civil fraud case in federal court in Delaware in September 2020, which was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2022
• Achieved a complete dismissal in 2022 of a retaliation suit brought by a former faculty member against a university client, and in 2023 argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and achieved full affirmance of the dismissal.
• Led a response to a federal government investigation regarding HIPAA issues on behalf of a global healthcare company that resulted in declination by the government in 2022
• Represented a global health care company in 2021 in successfully resolving certain matters with regulators and prosecutors in the United States
• Led numerous internal investigations into potential criminal and/or civil violations, including one internal investigation related to potential violations of the False Claims Act by a global healthcare company and one related to similar allegations against a university
• Argued and prevailed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a case on behalf of Mount Ida College and its trustees involving complex issues of fiduciary duty in a class action brought on behalf of former students (954 F.3d 56 (1st Cir. 2020))
• Successfully represented an executive in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) insider trading investigation
• Successfully represented a specialty pharmacy distributor in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation
• Successfully represented a global medical device company in series of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigations and audits
• Successfully represented an individual in an investigation by the Boston U.S. Attorney's Office into potential violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute
• Achieved complete dismissal of Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claim for a global healthcare company in federal court in Rhode Island
• Achieved complete dismissal of a whistleblower-initiated False Claims Act (FCA) case on behalf of a publicly traded financial services company