Bill Mateja is a partner in the Government Contracts, Investigations & International Trade Practice Group in the firm’s Dallas office. He specializes in White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations. Unlike many attorneys, Bill Mateja does not expect repeat business.
Clients he works with are usually facing the kinds of high-stakes, high-stress problems that are not likely to recur — a financial services company under SEC investigation, a hospital accused of Medicare fraud, or a C-suite executive charged with fraud or insider trading. These clients turn to Bill to address and resolve the issues, while minimizing the impact to their businesses and reputations.
Bill has long been a white collar trial lawyer with a particular focus on healthcare fraud and securities enforcement. A former prosecutor at the highest levels of the Department of Justice, Bill was responsible for all the Department’s white collar operations, as well as the day-to-day workings of its corporate fraud task force.
He also served as Special Counsel for Health Care fraud overseeing all of the Department’s health care fraud enforcement. This experience makes him unusually adept at handling the collateral consequences of white collar matters, which can occur in any of four separate legal forums — criminal, civil, administrative, and regulatory — sometime all at once.
Bill has a deep understanding of each of these forums, and he regularly demonstrates that “the best defense is a good prosecutor.” He maintains strong relationships in U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country, as well as at the SEC and various state and federal enforcement agencies nationwide.
The benefit to clients is that Bill not only thinks like a prosecutor, but at times, he is a contemporary to the prosecutor or investigating attorney assigned to his case. His goal in every matter is to see that business continues with the least amount of disruption, and that each individual receives not only an aggressive defense, but one that is acceptable and comfortable for the client.
Government Experience:
- Senior Counsel to Deputy Attorneys General, Larry Thompson and James Comey, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C., 2003-2004)
- Point Person, President George W. Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force
- National oversight over and coordination of the Department of Justice’s, (1) white collar functions, including health care enforcement, (2) relationship with the U.S. Sentencing Commission and matters relating to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and (3) efforts to combat violent crime, including oversight over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Project Safe Neighborhoods
- Counsel to the Director, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C., 2002-2003)
- Legal Evaluator, Executive Office of U.S. Attorney’s Evaluation and Review Staff (2000-2004) Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas, U.S. Department of Justice (1991-2004)
Education:
- J.D., Texas Tech University School of Law, 1986
- B.S., University of Notre Dame, 1983
Admissions:
- Texas
- United States Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Experience:
- Successfully represented Missouri’s former governor in connection with a federal investigation regarding unsubstantiated allegations of political patronage
- Conducted tens of corporate internal investigations involving subjects as varied as vendor kickback schemes, illegal bribes and gratuities, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and insider trading by a company’s chief executive officer.
- Successfully represented numerous companies and individuals in connection with federal and state whistleblower lawsuits and resulting civil and criminal investigations conducted by HHS-OIG, the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and state Medicaid officials.
- Made numerous criminal referrals to prosecutors and regulatory agencies in matters involving trade secret theft, embezzlement, dealing with prohibited countries, money laundering, and other alleged criminality.
- Successfully represented multiple companies civilly and criminally in connection with a departing employee’s alleged theft of corporate trade secrets.
- Obtained a deferred prosecution of $900 million window and door manufacturer in connection with an ICE worksite enforcement prosecution; obtained dismissal of restaurant manager in federal criminal case involving allegations of hiring of illegal aliens.
- Successfully represented a $900 million manufacturing concern in connection with parallel criminal and SEC investigations involving allegations of accounting fraud and self-dealing.
- Represented Innovation First, Inc., in suing the Dominion Multiple Employer Welfare Benefit Trust and American General Life Insurance Company, among others, in connection with Innovation First’s participation in the Trust.
- Represented an individual before DOJ’s Office of Pardon Attorney and in connection with his application for a federal pardon.
Memberships:
- Adjunct Professor, Texas Tech School of Law, 1995-2002, 2006-2012
- Co-Chair, American Bar Association, North Texas-Oklahoma Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Section’s White
- Collar Crime Committee, American Bar Association, 2006-present
- Criminal Justice Section Book Board, American Bar Association, 2013-present
- American Health Lawyers Association, 2016-present
- Dallas Bar Association, Director, Board of Directors, Dallas Bar Association, 2015–present
- Texas Tech Law School Foundation, Trustee, 2016-present
Cost
Rate : $$$