Patrick Otlewski

• Obtained declination of federal criminal charges for the former CEO and chairman of a publicly held financial services company whom the Department of Justice considered a target in a fraud and money laundering investigation.
• Obtained declination of federal criminal charges for a senior officer of a publicly held company whom the Department of Justice named a target in a Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act criminal investigation.
• Conducted independent internal investigations for the Boards of Directors of publicly held companies into allegations of misconduct by members of their C-Suites.
• Represented automative companies in federal civil litigation involving preemption under the Clean Air Act.

White Collar Criminal Defense and Government Investigations

• Defended a Department of Defense contractor in parallel criminal and civil False Claims Act investigations, following allegations of records falsification by a subcontractor. No criminal or civil action was taken against our client.
• Obtained declination of federal criminal charges for the former CEO and chairman of a publicly held financial services company whom the Department of Justice considered a target in a fraud and money laundering investigation.
• Defended a company in a Department of Justice investigation into allegations of public corruption, with no charges brought against the company and its executives.
• Obtained declination of federal criminal charges for a senior officer of a publicly held company whom the Department of Justice named a target in a Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act criminal investigation.
• Represented a healthcare billing company in a Department of Justice criminal healthcare fraud investigation, with no charges brought against the billing company and its executive.
• Represented a commodities trading firm in a regulatory investigation conducted by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Independent Internal Investigation

• Independent investigation for the Board of Directors of a publicly held healthcare services company regarding allegations of securities fraud following a SPAC transaction.
• Independent investigation for the Board of Trustees of a state pension fund into allegations of misconduct by its Executive Director.
• Independent investigation for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company into allegations of misconduct by its Chief Executive Officer.
• Independent investigation for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company into allegations of misconduct between its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer.
• Independent investigation for the Board of Directors of a publicly held financial services company following allegations of employee misconduct and control failures.

Internal Investigations

• Internal investigation for the Board of Trustees of a public university following allegations of misconduct by a tenured professor.
• Internal investigation for a Fortune 50 company following an employee-involved shooting incident.
• Internal investigation for a Fortune 100 company into allegations of accounting fraud and misleading public disclosures.
• Numerous internal investigations for publicly and privately held companies and institutions, following allegations of misconduct, including by whistleblowers.

Civil Litigation

• Represented a major retailer in federal civil litigation alleging a conspiracy to violate civil rights against the retailer and other defendants.
• Represented automative companies in federal civil litigation involving preemption under the Clean Air Act.
• Trial counsel for the nation’s largest egg producer in a federal jury trial alleging antitrust violations.
• Represented a construction company in litigation against the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, where the court entered a temporary restraining order against the Toll Highway Authority.
• Trial counsel for an asset management company a state court trial, where we successfully defended against the plaintiff on its claims and prevailed on our client’s counterclaim.
• Represented the CFTC Chairman and two CFTC Commissioners in federal contempt proceedings, obtaining mandamus relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
• Represented a company in a federal racketeering lawsuit, obtaining dismissal with prejudice of all claims at the motion-to-dismiss stage.

Patrick Otlewski’s practice focuses on advising and advocating on behalf of clients in government investigations and enforcement actions. He is a vigorous advocate and is a first-chair trial lawyer. He has taken complex and challenging civil and criminal cases to verdict in state and federal courts, where he regularly achieves his clients’ objectives and secures victory. Patrick also regularly leads internal and independent investigations for public and private companies, including their Boards of Directors, on crisis matters ranging from corporate governance and executive misconduct to fraud, corporate espionage, and corruption.

Patrick joined King & Spalding as a partner in 2018. Since 2019, he has been ranked by Chambers USA as a leading white-collar practitioner in Illinois. In 2020, Crain’s Chicago Business named Patrick to its prestigious 40 Under 40 list, noting that he was “widely viewed as the best investigator” while an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Before joining King & Spalding, Patrick served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. He was Deputy Chief of General Crimes, responsible for training and supervising new Assistant U.S. Attorneys on federal criminal procedure, grand jury practice, investigative techniques, and trials. Patrick led hundreds of grand jury investigations, prosecuted high-profile criminal cases through to trial, and briefed and argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Patrick brings passion, insightfulness, and a methodological approach to his work, helping clients achieve their goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. When he is not trying cases, Patrick draws on his trial experience to help his clients in litigation and enforcement matters focus on key objectives and how best to achieve those objectives. Representative litigation matters span antitrust, racketeering, breaches of fiduciary duty, securities fraud, to other commercial and business litigation claims. 

Patrick previously served as a law clerk for Judge Richard C. Wesley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.