Former WellCare executive stunned by presidential pardon, using it to help others

TAMPA, Fla. - Thad Bereday remembers what it felt like to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.

"We were riding high," he recalled. "We were the hottest IPO on Wall Street."

He was the general counsel for the Tampa health care company WellCare and was making money hand over fist.

"It's intoxicating," he said. "You are living the American dream. You are working hard."

But the FBI, and eventually judges and juries, didn't think it was legal and in 2007, they were raided.

"It is just like you see on TV. It's FBI agents in flak jackets with sidearms," Bereday remembered.

Prosecutors successfully argued that executives were pocketing Medicaid money they should have refunded. Five executives faced the music.

"Different lawyers can see the same set of facts and issues differently," he explained. "We looked at the issues and saw a valid business strategy. The government looked at the issues and saw fraud."

Bereday pleaded guilty to making a false statement and settled with the SEC for $4.5 million. He spent the first half of 2018 in prison.

"Federal prison stinks," he shared. "I would not recommend it."

But he does not want to spend the rest of his life recapping that. He's here to talk about people like Bill Schulman.

"I kind of spiraled and just lost everything," said Schulman. "I ended up being homeless."

After a year on the street, Schulman entered an intervention program at Portico Workforce Housing Solutions in Tampa. Bereday was volunteering there.

"Finally, connecting with someone who will take the time to listen to you," said Schulman. "He had gone through things I had never imagined."

A raid, a court process, prison, and two cancer diagnoses won't change everyone. But it did change Bereday.

"In my case, the universe has had to deal out a series of lessons over time, and the learning has gone more gradually," said Bereday.

Bill is one of 60 people who Bereday has helped. He says their journey parallels his own.

"Our job is to bring our radiance, our compassion, our love, our mercy to each other," said Bereday.

On January 20, just before Donald Trump left office, Bereday learned he, and the other WellCare executives, would be getting the biggest kind of mercy available, at least here on Earth.

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"I checked my phone and had a text message from a friend saying you have been pardoned," he said.

He was not aware of any efforts to lobby on his behalf and is not a Trump supporter. 

A White House statement said, "The methodology the executives used in its financial structure was reviewed and endorsed by those with expertise in the state regulatory scheme. Notably, there was no evidence they were motivated by greed."

"I have a better chance of winning the lottery than obtaining (a pardon)," Bereday said.

Not only did he get back his civil rights, but his supervised release is over. He is no longer a convicted felon. 

"I immediately dropped to my knees to give thanks," he shared.

Having been on the inside, he has poured himself into criminal justice reform through his work at the Portico. 

Why shouldn't others, who may not have the same resources, skills or notoriety, get the same break?

"As pleased as I am to receive a presidential pardon, there are many, many more people in the system, who are equally deserving of mercy," Bereday explained.

He sees himself in those like Schulman, so he works with them as he does on himself. Schulman is ready to start looking for work again.

"I think it is just a willingness to come forward and say hey this is me. This is where I've come from," said Schulman. "This is what's happened. We can go forward now. Let's do that."

Bereday is ready to start his own second act, now with a presidential endorsement that shows clean slates don't come along often, or ever, for most.

"The pardon has created an opportunity for me to share my story, my own personal journey and testimony, offer my experience, strength and hope to help others," he added.