Tom Clarkson

Tom Clarkson is a former federal prosecutor who represents businesses and individuals in government investigations, False Claims Act (FCA) litigation, complex civil litigation, and white collar criminal defense. Over the past three years, he has secured more than 15 declinations for clients identified as targets of government investigations and helped recover more than $20 million in FCA and other plaintiff-side matters. He is ranked by Chambers in White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations and leads the firm's health care fraud and False Claims Act practices. Since entering private practice, Tom has defended and advised C-suite executives, business owners, physicians, laboratory owners, marketers, and medical equipment companies in Department of Justice investigations involving health care fraud, tax fraud, SBA fraud, securities fraud, wire and mail fraud, immigration fraud, and money laundering. He also represents clients in parallel civil and criminal investigations, SEC matters, IRS investigations, and high-stakes commercial disputes. Before founding Griffin Durham Tanner & Clarkson, Tom led a nationally recognized Department of Justice unit prosecuting complex civil and criminal fraud in the Southern District of Georgia. He tried significant cases involving public corruption, health care fraud, wire fraud, and violent crime, achieving guilty verdicts in every trial. The investigations he supervised resulted in more than $1.5 billion in plea agreements and helped make his unit one of the DOJ's top-performing criminal health care fraud teams. He also prosecuted some of the district's first COVID-19 fraud cases involving Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan fraud. Tom has extensive experience with False Claims Act litigation, Controlled Substances Act enforcement, the Stark Law, and the Anti-Kickback Statute. His work spans every stage of complex civil enforcement, from investigations through trial and judgment, and includes representing whistleblowers, health care providers, and businesses in high-value disputes. In addition to his government investigations practice, Tom has defended businesses, executives, directors, and officers in litigation involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, civil conspiracy, conversion, and other complex business torts. He has served as lead counsel in numerous high-value cases, including litigation involving claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars.