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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTSOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDAFort Lauderdale DivisionCase No.: 09-81616-civ-DIMITROULEAS/SNOWBRETT STRONG,

Plaintiff,v.

KIMC INVESTMENTS, INC., aDelaware corporation d/b/aMedVance Institute

Defendant._______________________________________/

AMENDED COMPLAINT

Plaintiff, Brett Strong, sues KIMC Investments, Inc., d/b/a MedVance Institute(“MedVance”) for retaliatory discharge in violation of 31 U.S.C.A § 3730(h) (“the Act”).

Introduction

This lawsuit concerns a private, for-profit educational facility, MedVance, whichis the recipient of considerable sums of federal and state funds for tuition and for federallybacked and insured student loans. MedVance goes to great length to put students on the rolls andto keep students enrolled, even those students who have no basis to be enrolled and in manycases who have requested to be dropped from the rolls. As the recipient and beneficiary of stateand federal funds and loan guarantees, MedVance has a vested financial interest in enrolling asmany students as possible, no matter their qualifications or their interests. By enrolling thesestudents, and by not dropping students that fail to meet minimum requirements, MedVance iscommitting a fraud on the government. This lawsuit is about an employee who was fired inretaliation for discovering the fraud.

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Parties, Jurisdiction and Venue

Plaintiff, Brett Strong, is a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida. At allrelevant times, Plaintiff was an employee of the Defendant at the Palm Spring, Florida location.3.

Defendant, KIMC Investments, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principalplace of business in Palm Beach County, Florida. It does business as the MedVance Institute,with ten campuses in Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas. MedVance offers adult, post-secondary higher education in the medical and health care fields. MedVance is the recipient andbeneficiary of state and federal funds, loans, grants, and loan guarantees.4.

Jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction).5.

Venue is proper in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Floridapursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 89(c).6.

All administrative prerequisites have been satisfied or waived.

Facts Common to All Counts

Strong began working for MedVance as an instructor in March 2009.8.

Strong was promoted on May 11, 2009 as Associate Director of Education. Hereported to Louise Nicholson, MedVance’s Director of Education (DOE).9. On June 12, 2009, Strong became concerned about MedVance’s administrativepractices because of an email he received from Nicholson. The subject line of the email was“Grads with 0 attendance.” The email listed six students who “graduated” MedVance despitefailure to complete (and in most cases even start) their required externships. In response to theemail, Kirah Rahill, MedVance’s Regional Field Relations Specialist, wrote that she “scrub[ed]the list” of students but that she was “not sure what status changes you will need to make, as Iam still learning the MedVance way….” Rahill further indicated that one of the students left the

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3externship because it was not useful. These students failed to complete MedVance’s minimumrequirements (i.e. externship). Yet, these students are still considered MedVance graduates.10. MedVance students that failed to commence or complete their externships stillcontinued to receive federal financial aid for the course nonetheless. Strong learned thatMedVance accomplished this by altering student’s graduation date to a future date on theregistrar’s software. Troubled by this, the Strong confronted Nicholson about the “grads with 0attendence” and the failing externship program. Nicholson tersely concluded that it would beaddressed and that it is “none of your business.” Strong also indicated to Nicholson that he wasuncomfortable with changing or manipulating graduation dates. After this incident, therelationship between Strong and Nicholson turned cold.11. In late June or early July 2009, Strong was instructed to attend a meeting withAdrienne Predko, MedVance’s National Director of Education. During a substantial portion of the meeting, Strong was questioned about what actions he had taken to prevent drops. Predkolater coined the expression “Stop the Drops” as a major theme for MedVance. Brenda Greene,Campus Director, also stressed the “Stop the Drops” theme. Strong later learned thatadministrators were financially rewarded for their ability to keep students “enrolled.”12. Between August 10, 2009 through August 24, 2009, Nicholson (Strong’ssupervisor) went on vacation. During that time period, Strong replaced Nicholson as actingDOE. Strong dropped ten (10) students, several of whom were absent for ten (10) days or more.13. On August 10, 2009, Strong corresponded with Brenda Green through a series of emails where Strong was reprimanded for the “unacceptable” amount of drops. Green demandeda “corrective action plan.” Strong explained that these students were involved in emergencysituations such as serious illness, pregnancy, or hospitalization and would be unable to fulfill

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