Seyfarth Shaw LLP today announced that Andrew S. Boutros has joined the firm as a litigation partner and co-chair of its White Collar, Internal Investigations, and False Claims Team. A distinguished trial attorney and litigator with extensive experience handling Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters, Boutros joins the firm from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), where he successfully investigated and prosecuted some of the nation’s largest and most complex multi-district, international corporate fraud and cybercrime cases. Boutros will be resident in Seyfarth’s Chicago and Washington, D.C. offices.
A federal prosecutor for nearly eight years, Boutros served with distinction as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, spending most of his prosecutorial career in the Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Section of the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office. His prosecutions spanned the globe and involved coordinated efforts with international law enforcement authorities in more than 20 countries, including a number of recent high-profile accomplishments:
• 2015: Convicted the owner and operator of a defunct Chicago hospital, Edgewater Medical Center, in one of the district’s first-ever Sarbanes-Oxley conspiracy cases, which involved complex offshore trusts and monetary judgments totaling more than $188 million.
• 2015: Convicted one of the nation’s “Top 10 Most Wanted” mortgage fraud defendants as part of a long-term undercover fraud investigation.
• 2014: Convicted the world’s largest online drug trafficker on “Silk Road,” described then by the government as the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace of its kind on the Internet.
• 2014: Designated as the government’s nationwide point of contact for a Top International Criminal Organization Target (TICOT) and led the government’s money laundering investigation into one of the largest global digital currency exchangers and its top executive.
• 2013: Investigated and prosecuted the largest international criminal trade fraud, food fraud and corporate social responsibility cases in U.S. history, the first in 2010 at nearly $80 million, and the second series in 2013 at nearly $180 million.
“We are excited to welcome such an outstanding trial attorney of Andrew’s caliber as he re-enters private practice after years of decorated service as a federal criminal prosecutor,” said Kate Perrelli, chair of Seyfarth’s Litigation department. “Andrew is an incredibly accomplished litigator who will be a tremendous asset to our clients and the firm as we continue to expand our white collar, FCPA and related practices.”
David Rowland, managing partner of Seyfarth’s Chicago office, added: “Andrew brings a sterling reputation and long, proven track record of resolving some of the country’s largest and most difficult cases. We’re honored that he’s joined our team and look forward to his leadership in helping clients navigate through today’s complex regulatory environment. Corporate compliance is vital to our clients and Andrew is uniquely positioned to develop compliance programs, conduct compliance investigations and, where necessary, defend clients in litigation.”
Reflecting on his tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and move to Seyfarth, Boutros explained: “Public service is among the highest callings in the bar. It has been an extraordinary privilege to work on the prosecutorial frontlines bringing the tough cases that needed to be brought. In doing so, I am grateful to have worked with some of the finest law enforcement agencies in the business, where together we made a difference for so many.”
“Looking ahead, Seyfarth is a truly visionary firm with a strong multi-disciplinary and international platform where I am thrilled to help lead and shape the work of our nationwide White Collar, Internal Investigations, and False Claims Team.”
About Andrew S. Boutros
Boutros’s prosecutorial successes have earned him some of the highest honors from the government, law enforcement and legal communities. In 2015, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association selected Boutros as the national prosecutor of the year, presenting him with the prestigious National Prosecutorial Award, and he was also elected into the American Law Institute. In 2014, the American Bar Association awarded Boutros the Criminal Justice Section’s Norm Maleng Minister of Justice Award, which is presented annually to one federal, state or local prosecutor in the country for exemplifying the principle that the “duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.”
As a prosecutor, Boutros charged and prosecuted crimes involving some $500 million in losses, proceeds, and judgments, while also investigating additional criminal conduct in the several billions of dollars. In 2014, the United States Attorney’s Office publicly recognized Boutros’s work in criminal monetary collections, announcing that “[s]ome of the largest criminal fines and restitution for FY 2014 came from . . . a series of cases” successfully brought by Boutros. In addition, while in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Boutros tried or prepped for trial dozens of cases, including trials involving charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and false statements affecting financial institutions, among others.
Boutros is also the first prosecutor to convict a previously-convicted FCPA defendant and also took the rare step of successfully inserting an undercover federal agent into a real, non-government corporation as part of a sweeping fraud investigation into an entire industry’s supply chain. An authority on corporate deferred and non-prosecution agreements, Boutros drafted and negotiated among two of the district’s first-ever corporate DPAs and is the author of the DOJ’s first customs-based supply chain corporate compliance program based on “reasonable country of origin inquiry,” the same standard found in Dodd-Frank’s conflict-mineral rules.
Boutros’s cases have received widespread national and international media attention and have been showcased repeatedly by senior government officials in congressional testimony before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as major milestones in international fraud enforcement, as well as models for future prosecutions.
Prior to his government service, Boutros was instrumental in the launch of the FCPA practice at a leading international law firm, where he also led teams of attorneys defending corporations and executives in high-stakes criminal, regulatory and FCPA probes being investigated by the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Securities and Exchange Commission, and other government agencies.
A frequent writer and speaker, Boutros teaches an advanced course on corporate criminal prosecutions and investigations at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the national co-founder and co-chair of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section’s Global Anti-Corruption Committee and is a voting member of the ABA Criminal Justice Section Council. Boutros also serves on the board of multiple organizations.
Boutros is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Virginia Tech, where he graduated in-honors summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Boutros also clerked for the Honorable Eugene E. Siler, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Source: www.seyfarth.com
