Kenneth M. Abell - Lawyer in New York, NY

Ken is an experienced lawyer, a tireless lawyer and a reliable adviser to his clients. His practice focuses on government investigations and law enforcement matters, judicial defense under the False Claims Protection Act, white collar criminal defense, health regulatory and compliance consulting, and complex commercial litigation.

Until 2018, Ken served as Head of the Health Fraud Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Civil Division. During his ten years as an assistant United States Attorney, Ken has sued and resolved some of the most important fraud cases in the Eastern District, successfully handled several cases, and handled many cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Ken has led more than twenty AUSAS dealing with healthcare fraud issues and oversaw a diverse practice group that included cases against pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, hospital systems, home health care facilities, groups of practicing physicians, medical equipment companies billing, and individual physicians. In investigating and prosecuting these actions, Ken worked closely with federal agents from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration. Ken also worked closely with attorneys from the Medicaid Fraud Division at the New York State Attorney General's Office.

During his time at AUSA, Ken also handled some of the nation's largest mortgage fraud cases. In 2012, after several years of intensive investigation, he successfully settled a $1 billion mortgage fraud case against Countrywide Financial, which at the time was the largest mortgage fraud damages settlement under the False Claims Act. In 2015, Mr. Abell's investigation against Bank of America was included in a $16.65 billion National mortgage Settlement, which remains the largest foreclosure in the United States in the history of a single entity.

Just before the foundation of Abella Askew Landau (AEL) Ken was a partner and chairman of the Healthcare Fraud and White Collar Protection Group at one of the largest law firms on Long Island. In this capacity, Ken has helped many clients sort out high-stakes government investigations and successfully resolved several civil and criminal cases.

Ken is a frequent speaker on health issues, speaking at conferences and symposiums more than three dozen times on issues such as fraud in the field of medical care and medical assistance, drug diversion, actions under the False Claims Act, issues provided for by the Anti-Kickbacks Act, and priorities of state law enforcement.

Ken began his legal career as a commercial lawyer at a well-known judicial boutique in Chicago. After that, he was a lawyer for the Honorable Theodore H. Katz in the Southern District of New York before joining the United States Attorney's Office in 2008.