WILLIAM J. HARRINGTON

Bill Harrington is a litigation partner in the New York office. He specializes in white collar criminal cases, internal corporate investigations, government civil and False Claims Act lawsuits, regulatory actions and complex commercial litigations.

WORK FOR CLIENTS

Mr. Harrington joined Goodwin Procter in early 2012. His recent matters include:

• A mortgage originator and bank charged in a whistleblower’s lawsuit and a FIRREA civil suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice;
• A U.S. military contractor in connection with a false claims act suit and an Army criminal investigation;
• A chief executive officer in connection with testimony in a federal insider trading trial;
• A managing director of a financial institution in connection with a criminal fraud investigation conducted by the New York County District Attorney’s Office;
• A private equity fund in connection with a grand jury investigation; and
• A regional physicians medical group responding to an HHS-OIG anti-kickback investigation.

Mr. Harrington has also been appointed to the Criminal Justice Act Panel in the Southern District of New York, which provides counsel for indigent federal criminal defendants.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Harrington represented individuals and corporations in a broad array of civil, criminal and regulatory matters, including:

• Self-regulatory organizations in connection with U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission inspections;
• A big four accounting firm in a grand jury investigation involving tax matters;
• Former senior employees of a Fortune 10 company in a grand jury investigation involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA);
• A consumer products company in global investigations, corporate training and compliance reviews involving the FCPA, international trade sanctions and anti-money laundering statutes, including on-site investigations and trainings in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the Ukraine;
• A financial services company in connection with market timing investigations by the New York State Attorney General’s Office;
• Limited partners seeking ownership of the partnership’s water filtration patents, resulting in a substantial trial verdict in Delaware Chancery Court; and
• Fortune 100 Company in Delaware Chancery Court in connection with its successful acquisition of competitor.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

From 2007 through 2012, Mr. Harrington served as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, teaching a course covering the ethical and strategic considerations in exercising federal prosecutorial authority.

Mr. Harrington was a member of the Federal Bar Council American Inn of Court from 2002 through 2007.

MEDIA

Mr. Harrington is the author of “Challenges in Asserting the Advice of Counsel Defense,” New York Law Journal (July 9, 2012) and “Making Sense of Brady Disclosure Obligations in Parallel Proceedings, White Collar Crime, Westlaw Journal (May 2012).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Mr. Harrington worked in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York immediately prior to joining the Goodwin Procter in early 2012. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Harrington conducted nine federal trials and argued eight cases before the Second Circuit. His notable cases and investigations at the S.D.N.Y. included:

• The bribery convictions of former New York State Senator Carl Kruger, New York State Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, two hospital CEOs and a registered lobbyist;
• The conviction of investment advisor Ken Starr for embezzling tens of millions of dollars in client funds and defrauding clients through speculative securities investments;
• A Lebanon based-money laundering organization that laundered tens of millions of dollars throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia;
• A bank employee’s scheme to defraud financial institutions by mining bank computer systems to steal customer identities and misappropriate millions of dollars in home mortgages;
• The conviction of the employee of a U.S. military contractor for accepting corrupt payments in Afghanistan;
• A scheme to commit access device fraud by using stolen identities, including information obtained by “phishing” financial institution and credit reporting agency data; and
• The prosecution of retired Long Island Railroad workers in a widespread, billion-dollar disability and health care fraud scheme.

In his last two years at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Harrington regularly worked on parallel investigations with the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, including the management of criminal investigations based on qui tam complaints. He was appointed Criminal Health Care Fraud Coordinator, responsible for the development of the S.D.N.Y.'s fraud prosecutions involving health care providers and pharmaceutical companies. He oversaw a broad range of investigations, including:

• Allegations of false statements and fraud in connection with the receipt of TARP funds;
• Foreign and domestic kickback payments paid by U.S. pharmaceutical companies;
• Allegations of off-label marketing;
• Federal program fraud including fraudulent billing of Medicare and Medicaid;
• False and misleading statements to the FDA;
• Embezzlement from hospitals and health care organizations;
• Private health insurance fraud; and
• Federal disability fraud.

Mr. Harrington served as a law clerk to the Honorable Chester J. Straub of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2001-2002, and to the Honorable Sidney H. Stein, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1999-2000.

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Mr. Harrington is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

RECOGNITION

While attending law school, Mr. Harrington earned the Potter Stewart Prize (Best Team) in the Morris Tyler Moot Court competition, served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Journal of Law and Humanities, and was named a Coker Fellow to teach legal research and writing.

Mr. Harrington is fluent in Spanish.