Andrew S. Boutros, the Regional Chair of the U.S. White Collar practice, is resident in the firm’s Chicago and Washington, D.C. offices. A former federal prosecutor in the Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Section of the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Boutros is a leading figure in white collar defense. He represents companies large and small, public and private, victims and targets as well as their boards, audit committees, officers, directors and other individuals in government enforcement matters (DOJ, USAO, FBI, SEC and other agencies) and internal investigations. His practice also includes trials, false claims litigation, crisis management response, strategic counseling and compliance-related work. Mr. Boutros served as Legal Counsel to the Independent Compliance Monitor for a series of pharmacy entities, pursuant to a U.S. Department of Labor administrative agreement. Identified by The Legal 500 as a “key lawyer” in Dechert’s White Collar practice, Mr. Boutros is described as “exceptional, the real deal -- very thorough, meticulous and client-focused.” Ranked by Chambers USA in the area of White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Illinois, Mr. Boutros is described as "a very diligent, creative and tenacious lawyer... he is a thought-leader and tactician who thinks quickly and deeply along multiple tracks at the same time. A brilliant lawyer." Others have described him as a “phenomenal attorney who is quick to identify the key issues and develop an effective course of action." Chambers also notes that he is “terrific to work with” and a person who “excels at everything he does and has the Midas touch -- he is super smart, creative and hard-working.” Nominated by top legal decision makers at large organizations with US$700 million or more in revenue, Mr. Boutros has been selected as a 2022 and 2021 BTI Client Service All-Star for delivering “absolutely superior client service.” Clients describe Mr. Boutros as a “standout partner,” who is “very good at communicating and keeping us informed” and “is fantastic at guiding us through a matter.” He is also the Co-Hiring Partner of the firm’s Chicago office.
Mr. Boutros has personally represented clients in matters involving general fraud, embezzlement, the Travel Act, FARA, OFAC, RICO, tax, commercial bribery, kickback schemes, public corruption, Inspector General investigations, insurance fraud, bank fraud, securities and accounting violations, healthcare and FDA violations, environmental crimes, trade secret theft, cyber hacking and extortion incidents, criminal antitrust violations, supply chain issues, government contract disputes involving allegations of wrongdoing, whistleblower allegations and the False Claims Act, among others. Mr. Boutros also has significant experience handling criminal customs, trade and antidumping duty fraud cases. Since the early 2000s, he has conducted FCPA investigations in Canada, China, Russia, Europe and the Middle East and advised clients on FCPA corporate compliance matters and programs. In addition, Mr. Boutros was retained as an FCPA expert to render a formal legal opinion in a transnational post-acquisition dispute.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Boutros has led a number of high-profile cases of national and international significance, which the Chicago Sun-Times described in a profile of Mr. Boutros as “some of the toughest, most sophisticated cases at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.” As a federal prosecutor, he coordinated efforts with international law enforcement authorities in more than 20 countries and charged and prosecuted crimes involving US$500 million in losses, proceeds and judgments. In this regard, Mr. Boutros convicted the world’s largest online drug trafficker on the dark website, “Silk Road,” and was a member of the government’s inter-agency, multi-district Silk Road Task Force; convicted one of the country’s “Top 10 Most Wanted” mortgage fraud defendants; convicted Edgewater Medical Center’s owner and operator for crimes relating to more than US$188 million in judgments; successfully prosecuted the most extensive international criminal trade, customs and antidumping fraud cases of their kind, which Bloomberg Businessweek described as “the largest food fraud in U.S. history;” and negotiated two of the Northern District of Illinois’s earliest criminal corporate deferred prosecution agreements. While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Boutros also handled hundreds of matters; briefed and argued appeals to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; and tried or prepped for trial dozens of cases.
A deeply active member of the legal community, Mr. Boutros has been a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School since 2011, where he teaches a course on corporate criminal prosecutions and investigations. Among his leadership and board activities, he is a Co-Founder and National Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Global Anti-Corruption Committee, a board member of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors and a member of the Chicago Crime Commission. For six years, he was a voting member of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section Council, the governing body of the Section with its more than 16,000 members. Before that, he was a Special Advisor to the Council. In addition, Mr. Boutros was Founder and National Chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Task Force on College Due Process Rights and Victim Protections. The Task Force’s bipartisan Report and Recommendations were both unanimously approved by the Task Force’s members and unanimously endorsed by the Criminal Justice Section Council. That work has since become among the key foundational documents that colleges and universities from across the country, including the university system for the State of California, have turned to for guidance for handling allegations of student sexual misconduct. The Department of Education has also formally adopted many of the Task Force’s recommendations in its recently-promulgated regulations on the subject.
Mr. Boutros has authored nearly 100 articles, thought pieces and book chapters. He has also published two books: the first on compliance, The ABA Compliance Officer’s Deskbook (2017) and the second with Oxford University Press on global anti-corruption, From ‘Baksheesh’ to Bribery: Examining the Global Fight Against Corruption and Graft (2019). Mr. Boutros has chaired and organized various legal programs and been a presenter at more than 75 domestic and international programs. His presentations have covered the FCPA, international corruption, white collar criminal defense, government enforcement, customs and antidumping duty fraud, international and trade fraud, food fraud, supply chain integrity, corporate social responsibility, human trafficking and other related topics. As part of his thought leadership, Mr. Boutros coined the term “carbon copy” prosecution, a phrase that describes a growing global enforcement trend that has since been recognized by the Department of Justice in its “pile on” enforcement policy.
Mr. Boutros’s successes have earned him recognition from the government, law enforcement and legal communities. In 2015, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association selected Mr. Boutros as the national prosecutor of the year, presenting him with the prestigious National Prosecutorial Award. In 2015, he was also elected into the American Law Institute and today serves on ALI’s Regional Advisory Group for Region 7 (Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin). In 2014, the American Bar Association awarded Mr. Boutros the Criminal Justice Section’s Norm Maleng Minister of Justice Award, among the highest honors the ABA can confer upon a prosecutor. The FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have also presented Mr. Boutros with some of their highest honors. In addition, senior government officials have showcased his cases in their testimony before Congress, including hearings before the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. In 2018, Mr. Boutros and his work were featured in the debut of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated documentary series on food fraud, Rotten, in the episode, “Lawyers, Guns, and Honey.” Mr. Boutros is a frequent legal commentator on national and international television.