Erika A. Kelton
(Washington, D.C./San Francisco)

Erika A. Kelton was the lead attorney for a qui tam case against Pfizer Inc., which paid a record-setting $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal charges. The settlement was the largest combined federal and state health care fraud settlement ever, and the firm's case alone resulted in $1.8 billion (civil and criminal penalties) of the total recovery.

Ms. Kelton has substantial experience with qui tam cases involving fraud in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, telecommunications and computer industries as well as fraud by Wall Street investment banks.

Ms. Kelton also represents whistleblowers in matters concerning major tax law violations. She was the lead attorney representing a confidential tax informant, known as "Mr. ABC," who provided the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with important information about fraudulent tax shelters set up by Wall Street investment firms. The complex, fraudulent tax schemes cost the U.S. Treasury hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. ABC testified before the Senate Finance Committee about the abusive tax shelters and his experience as a whistleblower for the IRS .

In another high-profile case, Ms. Kelton was the lead attorney in a yield-burning matter involving IRS prohibitions against tax-exempt bond arbitrage. The case returned more than $200 million to the U.S. Treasury. In a separate qui tam case, Ms. Kelton was the lead attorney in a successful whistleblower lawsuit against Wall Street investment giant Mario Gabelli that alleged he and affiliated companies set up sham companies to qualify for certain telecom licenses. Mr. Gabelli and his associates paid $130 million to settle that case.

Because of Ms. Kelton's knowledge and experience with whistleblowers and the IRS whistleblower program, the IRS Whistleblower Office invited her to be a speaker at an IRS training conference on the new tax fraud whistleblower law for IRS attorneys and experts on tax fraud. In addition, she was an invited participant in a Senate Finance Committee roundtable to discuss the tax fraud whistleblower law, known as the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. 

Ms. Kelton has been a speaker at several conferences on the False Claims Act and qui tam lawsuits. She has published articles on customs fraud, fraud in the municipal bond market and the IRS whistleblower law.

Ms. Kelton graduated in 1987 from the University of California (Boalt Hall), where she was Articles Editor of the California Law Review.

From 1987 to 1994 she was associated with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Washington D.C.