William C. Pericak is a seasoned trial lawyer and investigator with a quarter-century of experience with the U.S. Department of Justice, including most recently as director of the Deepwater Horizon Task Force. As a member of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice, he brings his wealth of experience to clients who are navigating matters in which their activities draw the scrutiny of government investigators. He offers unique perspective about Justice’s criteria for initiating and pursuing investigations and the factors that lead to charging decisions, dispositions and the selection and employment of monitors.
From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Pericak was assistant chief and counsel to the chief of the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He supervised the Brooklyn Health Care Fraud Strike Force with the Eastern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he tried a multimillion-dollar health care fraud case to verdict. He also conducted investigations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in SE Asia, SW Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In his role as counsel to the chief, he developed and implemented section-wide training focusing on investigations and trial preparation. In 2013, he was appointed director of the multi-agency Deepwater Horizon Task Force that was responsible for prosecuting criminal violations related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.
From 1989 to 2011, Mr. Pericak was an assistant United States attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of New York. He was appointed as the district’s health care fraud coordinator, and later as its deputy criminal chief.
Mr. Pericak has led dozens of investigations of alleged bribery, kickbacks, fraud and money laundering offenses, including under the criminal and civil false claims acts (including qui tam/whistleblower provisions), the anti-kickback statute (including safe harbors), and the Physician Self-Referral Law (the Stark Law). He has tried 20 cases to verdict and briefed and argued 45 appeals.
