Ari Yampolsky

PARTNER | HE, HIM, HIS

in | Office: 415 707 6855 | Direct: 415 707 6859

ari@whistleblower.law

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Ari Yampolsky, a partner at Whistleblower Partners, has substantial experience representing whistleblowers under every major whistleblower-reward law. Ari has successfully represented qui tam relators in lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act related to healthcare fraud, procurement fraud, and customs fraud. And he represents whistleblowers with claims under every reward program run by a federal agency, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ari has helped his whistleblower clients obtain several record-breaking awards. These include:

  • A whistleblower case brought against numerous Wall Street banks involving a yearslong scheme to inflate municipal-bond rates in Illinois. In 2023, the case settled for $70 million, the largest recovery ever obtained under the False Claims Act of that state, and yielded the highest possible award for the whistleblower.

  • Ground-breaking False Claims Act lawsuits in California, Nevada, and other states, against four wireless carriers for failing to provide low-cost mobile phone services to state and local government. The cases resulted in a $138 million settlement and a 40 percent share for Ari’s whistleblower client.

  • In addition, Ari has also helped secure millions of dollars in awards for financial-fraud whistleblowers under the SEC’s program.

“Whistleblowers are engines of corporate accountability, taking enormous personal risks to serve the greater good. My job isn’t just to make sure a case succeeds, but also to protect my client's well-being.”

Previously, Ari was a law clerk for the Honorable Jane Branstetter Stranch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Honorable Kevin Hunter Sharp of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Ari graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where he was a member of the inaugural class. During law school, he served as a senior editor of the UC Irvine Law Review and represented hotel workers in wage-and-hour cases. Ari received his B.A. in Philosophy and English from Wesleyan University in 2000.

Between college and law school, Ari worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), helping long term-care employees organize unions and ensure government funds were used to support living-wage jobs.

In his free time, Ari cooks industrial quantities of food for his ravenous family and elusively searches for a quiet place in his home.

False claims matters

  • State ex rel. Edelweiss Fund, LLC v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., No. A163264 (Cal. Ct. App.): Ongoing litigation under several state False Claims Acts against several financial institutions alleging that defendants the government hired to manage variable rate bonds violated the False Claims Acts by knowingly failing to reset interest rates at the lowest possible rate. Settlement of parallel matter resulted in the largest recovery ever obtained under the Illinois False Claims Act ($70 million) and yielded the highest possible award for the whistleblower.

  • State of California ex rel. OntheGo Wireless, LLC v. Cellco Partnership, No. 34-2012-00127517 (Sacramento Cnty. Sup. Ct.): Represented whistleblower and 30 California political subdivisions in litigation under the state False Claims Acts of California and Nevada that resulted in recoveries totaling $138.7 million from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The whistleblower alleged that the wireless carriers overcharged state and local governments by failing to provide wireless services at the lowest cost available, as they had promised to do.

  • United States ex rel. Hughes v. CWD, LLC, No. 2:19-cv-07089 (C.D. Cal.): Recovered $8 million for taxpayers stemming from a scheme by auto parts importer to avoid customs duties by misclassifying brake pads.

  • United States ex rel. Hart v. McKesson Corp., No. 1:15-cv-00903 (S.D.N.Y.): Ongoing whistleblower case alleging that drug wholesaler McKesson Corp. and its affiliated companies provided illegal kickbacks in the form of free business services to encourage oncologists and other doctors to buy drugs from the company.

Securities fraud matters

  • Fraud by dark-pool operator. Secured a multi-million-dollar SEC whistleblower award for an anonymous whistleblower whose original information and assistance led to an enforcement action against brokerage firm.

  • Securities fraud. Secured a $1.7 million award for a former company insider who provided extensive and ongoing assistance to the SEC in its investigation of a major international company. Persuaded the SEC to increase the client’s award, acknowledging not only the client’s significant investigative assistance but also the risks the client took to alert investors to the misconduct and the justified fear of retaliation the client faced as a company employee.

Auto safety matters

  • Hyundai. Obtained a precedent-setting $24.3 million award under the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act for a whistleblower who exposed Hyundai and Kia’s efforts to deceive U.S. vehicle safety regulators about safety defects in millions of vehicles. The companies agreed to pay combined penalties of $210 million, the largest penalties the regulator ever assessed against a carmaker.

  • Member, Police Review Commission, City of Berkeley (2015-2019) (advising city officials on police policies and hearing citizen allegations of officer misconduct)

  • Director, American Constitution Society, Bay Area Lawyer Chapter (2015-2019)

  • Supervising Attorney, Workers’ Rights Clinic, Legal Aid at Work

  • Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers (2024)

  • Super Lawyers, Rising Stars (2016-2024)

  • University of California, Irvine School of Law (2012)

  • Wesleyan University (2000)