Josh Russ

Overview

A former Assistant United States Attorney, Josh is a principled and relentless advocate.

In 2013, after practicing healthcare regulation and litigation at a large corporate law firm, Josh joined Reese Marketos. During his time as an associate, Josh tried a jury trial on behalf of a plaintiff financial firm involving debt owed to his client under multiple loan instruments. The case settled just before closing arguments for more than $2 million. In addition, Josh represented two entrepreneurs in a commercial fraud and breach of contract matter that resulted in a favorable judgment for more than $5 million. The Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas affirmed the judgment in 2016.

In 2015, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas offered Josh the opportunity to serve the American public as the Eastern District’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) Coordinator. In that role, Josh oversaw and directed most of the Eastern District’s False Claims Act and civil Controlled Substances Act investigations and litigation. In less than five years, Josh’s work contributed to the recovery of more than $85 million in settlements, suspensions, and judgments on behalf of American taxpayers, most of which involved enforcement of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act. Josh was also named the Eastern District’s Civil Healthcare Fraud Coordinator, where he worked to develop the district’s parallel proceedings practices in accordance with Department of Justice policy.

For his work, Josh was awarded the Executive Office of United States Attorneys Director’s Award for Superior Performance as a Civil AUSA. Josh frequently lectured internally for the Department of Justice regarding the False Claims Act, the Controlled Substances Act, and parallel proceedings.

In 2018, at the age of 33, Josh was promoted to serve as the Eastern District’s Civil Chief. In that position, Josh supervised all civil litigation across the Eastern District’s six divisions: Sherman, Texarkana, Marshall, Tyler, Lufkin, and Beaumont. In addition to managing the Eastern District’s affirmative False Claims Act and civil Controlled Substances Act dockets, Josh supervised the district’s Financial Litigation Unit as well as defensive litigation against the United States, its agencies, and its personnel.

Josh’s highest priority as Civil Chief became fighting the nation’s devastating opioid crisis. He served as the co-chair of a national Prescription Interdiction and Litigation (PIL) Task Force working group.

In November 2019, Josh rejoined Reese Marketos as a partner, where he leads the firm’s Eastern District office and the firm’s False Claims Act practice. Since returning to the firm, his experience includes:

• Serving as lead trial counsel for two False Claims Act relators in a defense procurement action in the Northern District of Alabama, which resulted in a unanimous jury verdict awarding the government more than $36 million in single damages (United States ex rel. Marsteller v. MD Helicopters, Inc.);

• Representing an anonymous whistleblower who obtained an award of more than $1.2 million from the SEC;

• Representing a healthcare compliance professional in a False Claims Act action against a hospital system resulting in a settlement of more than $3 million;

• Representing a whistleblower who helped the Department of Justice obtain a $930,000 False Claims Act settlement in a defense procurement and cyber-security fraud action, which was the first settlement of a civil cyber-fraud case under DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative.

Presentations

• “Winning Whistleblower Claims” May 2022
  Panel Member, The 2022 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute
  Saint Paul, Minnesota
• “What We Wish We Knew – Advice From Former Government Attorneys” October 2020
  Panel Member, Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund 20th Annual Conference
  Plano, Texas
• “‘Uh, Houston, We’ve had a Problem.’ — Criminal Law for Civil Lawyers” September 2019
  Panel Member, Eastern District of Texas 2019 Bench Bar Conference
  Plano, Texas
• “Opioid Enforcement — Pharmacies” September 2019
  Speaker, Western ACE Conference 2019
  Denver, Colorado
• “Prosecuting Corporations” August 2019
  Instructor, Prosecuting Diversion Cases
  Quantico/Stafford, Virginia
• “The False Claims Act and Parallel Proceedings” March 2019
  Guest Lecturer, Baylor Law School
  Waco, Texas
• “Qui Tam. The Growing Role of ‘Private Attorneys General’ in EDTX  Under the Federal False Claims Act” October 2018
  Panel Member, Eastern District of Texas 2018 Bench Bar Conference
  Plano, Texas
• “Civil Remedies in Diversion Cases” October 2018
  Instructor, DEA Academy, Diversion Specialized Training Unit
  Quantico/Stafford, Virginia
• “Triaging Post-Escobar Litigation Issues” May 2018
  Panel Member, Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) for Attorneys Seminar
  Columbia, South Carolina
• “Healthcare Investigation Workshop” April 2018
  Guest Lecturer, University of Houston Law Center
  Houston, Texas
• “Parallel Proceedings” March 2018
  Guest Lecturer, University of Houston Law Center
  Houston, Texas
• “Healthcare Compliance and the False Claims Act” February 2018
  Guest Lecturer, University of Houston Law Center
  Houston, Texas
• “Healthcare Compliance, False Claims Act Cases, and Parallel Investigations” February 2017
  Guest Lecturer, University of Houston Law Center
  Houston, Texas
• “Enforcement Update” October 2016
  Panel Member, Texas Hospital Association 2016 Health Law Conference
  Austin, Texas
• “Parallel Proceedings” August 2016
  Panel Member, Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) for Attorneys Seminar
  Columbia, South Carolina
• “Settling False Claims Act Cases” August 2016
  Moderator, Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) for Attorneys Seminar
  Columbia, South Carolina
• “False Claims Act Cases and Parallel Investigations” June 2016
  Speaker, U.S. – European Fraud Working Group Meeting
  Garmisch, Germany
• “Parallel Proceedings: Best Practices” May 2016
  Panel Member, Healthcare Fraud Coordinators’ Conference
  Columbia, South Carolina