Mark H. Schlein transitioned to ”of counsel” status to Wisner Baum in 2022 and continues to focus on the firm’s whistleblower qui tam cases. For 11 years he worked full time as the firm’s top whistleblower attorney, handling dozens of whistleblower cases. Throughout a career spanning over 50 years as a police officer and a lawyer, Mark has been committed to public service and protection. His unique experience as an urban police officer and attorney makes him particularly effective fighting fraud against the government.
While a government attorney, Mark participated in whistleblower litigation resulting in the recovery of billions of dollars at the state and federal level since 1993. As a result, Mark has extensive experience working with whistleblowers in qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act.
Mark began his career in the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) as a deputy in the patrol division. In a career spanning 20 years, he commanded virtually every major operational component of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. This included the patrol division, the criminal investigations division and the special operations group which consisted of S.W.A.T., the aviation unit, marine unit, dive team, traffic, homicide, and the mounted patrol.
Mark also served as Accreditation Manager for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). In that capacity, he directed a broad revision of the department’s operating policies and procedures which resulted in BSO becoming the country’s 68th fully accredited law enforcement agency. He retired in 1993 as a lieutenant colonel and the Director of the Department of Law Enforcement.
In 1994, Mark was asked by Florida Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth to head the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) – the only agency in state government that is both a certified state police agency and a law firm. The MFCU became a nationally recognized leader in health care fraud enforcement, utilizing a civil enforcement strategy to complement arrest and criminal prosecution as a deterrent to health care fraud.
Using civil remedies such as the False Claims Act, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit was able to recover billions from corporate offenders on the state and federal level. Mark directed a staff of 143, including 14 Assistant Attorney Generals and over 90 sworn criminal investigators that conducted thousands of criminal investigations, made over 1300 arrests and litigated hundreds of civil cases.
Mark managed the successful settlement of multi-million dollar health care fraud cases and helped develop global litigation strategies for the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
At the end of his tenure with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, Mark entered private practice in the white-collar crime and healthcare fraud group at one of Florida’s largest and most respected law firms. While there he represented clients who were under investigation by federal, state or local authorities.
After a brief time as Special Deputy General Counsel in Florida’s Department of Health, Mark started work in Florida’s Department of Financial Services as police legal advisor and manager of the major case squad in the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF). DIF is a state law enforcement agency with a staff of 196, including 150 sworn investigators, three attorneys and support staff located in eight bureaus throughout the state. In fiscal year 2009/10 the Division of Insurance Fraud received 12,820 referrals and made 1042 arrests. The Major Case Squad is a special unit of detectives who investigate complex, high profile cases assigned by the Chief Financial Officer or the DIF Director.
As a member of the Wisner Baum whistleblower protection team, Mark is able to give each whistleblower he represents an in-depth understanding of their situation, a unique perspective on the best strategy to implement in their case, and highly dedicated representation due to his broad experience and background.
