There's been no shortage of white-collar prosecutions gone awry in recent years. But that's no consolation for federal prosecutors in Boston, whose criminal cases against a quartet of former Stryker Biotech officials abruptly imploded over the last three weeks.

With whistleblower awards increasingly topping $100 million, it's no surprise that fee fights are starting to pile up. Now they've ensnarled lawyers involved in two of the biggest federal recoveries to date--the $3 billion wrested from GlaxoSmithKline in July over illegal drug marketing claims, and the $5 billion in back taxes and $780 million in penalties that the IRS recovered from UBS in September.

The defendants maintain that this case is an attack on the very process by which private equity firms acquire control of public companies, and on their practice of joint bidding. But the case has not only survived a motion to dismiss, but is being expanded to include more billion-dollar deals.

As the Obama administration pushes for health care reform, the Justice Department is sending out the message that it's cracking down on fraud by the pharma industry. Meanwhile, a frequent whistle-blower and its law firm will reap more than $10 million.