By Craig Gottwals
In this case, Alan Weiderhold alleges that AssuredPartners and its affiliates fraudulently concealed pharmaceutical rebate compensation owed to Plan Sponsors (employers who offer ERISA-regulated self-funded health plans to employees). Wiederhold was an executive at Evolution Healthcare (EVHC), a division of AssuredPartners, and claims he was wrongfully terminated for attempting to comply with legal disclosure obligations under ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021.
Note: Arthur J. Gallagher & Company entered into an agreement to buy AssuredPartners on December 9, 2024. This suit against AssuredPartners was filed on February 5, 2025.
Key Allegations:
1) Failure to Disclose Pharmaceutical Rebates to Clients
- AssuredPartners and its affiliated companies allegedly concealed millions of dollars in pharmaceutical rebates received from Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
- These rebates were intended to lower health plan costs for employers and their employees, but AssuredPartners allegedly kept the rebates for themselves.
- The failure to disclose violates ERISA and the CAA’s transparency requirements.
2) Retaliation Against Wiederhold for Whistleblowing
- Wiederhold, as Vice President overseeing Compliance, Operations, and Client Management, raised concerns about the legal obligation to disclose pharmaceutical rebates to employer clients.
- He claimed that AssuredPartners’ leadership, including Brenndan Mohler (agency President of EVHC), explicitly rejected transparency and instead worked to hide rebate details from clients.
- When Wiederhold attempted to provide transparency as required by law, he was fired in retaliation on October 28, 2024.
3) Corporate Profit from Rebate Mismanagement
- The lawsuit claims that AssuredPartners used undisclosed rebate funds to enrich themselves, including funding executive bonuses.
- In 2024, 61% of Evolution Healthcare’s revenue allegedly came from concealed rebate funds. (Page 22, line 133 in the Complaint.)
- Company executives, including Brenndan Mohler, reportedly instructed employees to keep pharmaceutical rebate revenues hidden from clients and to divert the funds to corporate profits and executive bonuses.
4) Direct Violations of Federal Laws
- Under ERISA and the CAA, brokers and third-party administrators (TPAs) must disclose all direct and indirect compensation they receive from administering health plans.
- AssuredPartners allegedly did not disclose these rebates in contractual agreements (such as Administrative Services Agreements (ASA) and Business Associate Agreements (BAA)).
- The company reportedly instructed sales staff not to discuss rebates with clients and even refused client requests for PBM contract details.
5) Explicit Efforts to Prevent Disclosure
- Multiple employees, including in-house counsel Lauren Fischer, warned company leadership that withholding rebate data violated federal law.
- The lawsuit states that Brenndan Mohler personally intervened to prevent disclosure, stating that the company should be “opaque as hell” about rebate information.
- Employees were allegedly threatened with termination if they disclosed rebate information to Plan Sponsors.
- Some employees were reportedly forced to resign when they refused to comply with non-disclosure directives.
6) $27 Million in Undisclosed Rebate Revenue
- In 2023, Wiederhold discovered that AssuredPartners had retained approximately $27 million in undisclosed PBM rebates across 129 employer clients. (Page 25, line 156.)
- At an AssuredPartners leadership conference, executives acknowledged that rebate retention was unethical and unsustainable but chose to continue the practice.
- Despite internal discussions, executives refused to change their approach and instead prioritized renewing contracts with high-revenue clients while keeping rebates hidden.
7) Directives to Deceive Clients
Employees were reportedly instructed to mislead clients by:
- Claiming rebate contracts were proprietary and could not be shared.
- Stating that the burden was on Plan Sponsors to ask about compensation despite legal requirements mandating disclosure.
- Redirecting clients who asked about rebates to other topics or shutting down discussions entirely.
8) Termination of Wiederhold for Advocating Transparency
- When Wiederhold continued pushing for compliance with ERISA and the CAA, and provided rebate disclosure information to some clients, he was terminated on October 28, 2024.
- The lawsuit claims that the real reason for his termination was to prevent him from revealing further details about the rebate retention scheme.
The filing of this case is a massive win for employers and employee benefits consultants utterly fed up with the rampant culture of greed and gluttony haunting our industry. For far too long, good people have fought against this kind of sickening criminal behavior. But the reality is that with Wall Street and Private Equity’s hyper-focus on driving up quarterly profits by any means necessary, we’ve been fighting a losing battle.
I’m here to tell you that I truly believe the tide has turned. The CAA has given ERISA recognition and teeth that we have not had in the past. Furthermore, the parallel track record for disclosure and fiduciary responsibility we saw in the retirement plan space now gives us a roadmap in employee benefits.
I suspect that this case will ultimately settle quietly, as neither AssuredParnters nor Gallagher wants this one to generate any more headlines than it already has. But I, for one, am incredibly happy that Mr. Wiederhold had the courage to file this action. Report this article
