Patrick Pericak
Patrick Pericak joined the FCPA unit in 2014 and became a senior trial attorney.
Among the matters he handled that became public, Pericak helped to prosecute two sales executives for a Houston-based oil supply company who pleaded guilty in February 2016 to fraud-related charges.
Franklin Marson and Eduardo Betancourt each admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with kickbacks they accepted from sales agents in Latin America, according to court documents.
When Pericak joined the FCPA team in 2014, he followed his previous boss, Patrick Stokes, who'd been chief of the fraud section's securities fraud unit. Pericak joined the securities fraud unit in September 2012 and had worked with Stokes.
Stokes gave up leadership of the FCPA unit in March 2016 as he searched for a private sector job, eventually joining Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in September the same year. Pericak left the FCPA unit in July 2016, moving to FTI Consulting as a senior managing director in September.
As a prosecutor, among Pericak's major securities fraud cases was the December 2013 guilty plea of a brokerage subsidiary of ConvergEx Group to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud charges. The parent company agreed to pay US$43.8 million in criminal penalties and restitution as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.
In addition, the head trader at the brokerage subsidiary and a sales trader at another subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in the US District Court in New Jersey.
Pericak worked on that case with Justin Goodyear, who also jumped with him to the FCPA unit, and Jason Linder, a trial attorney in the FCPA unit. The case didn't have an FCPA angle, but FCPA unit prosecutors frequently assist on other prosecutions to gain trial experience.
As a senior trial attorney at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where he served from July 2009 to September 2012, Pericak was part of a team that successfully prosecuted two Florida men for defrauding customers in connection with a commodities pool they operated. Damien Bromfield and Donovan Davis Jr were convicted after a two-week jury trial in federal court in Orlando.
Before joining the CFTC, Pericak was an adjunct professor for 10 months at the George Washington University School of Law. Before his stint at the law school, he spent three years as a special counsel at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.
He began his career after law school at the Justice Department, spending seven years as a lawyer in the tax division and in the US Attorney's Office in Maryland.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Pericak tried more than 20 cases, including 10 jury trials, and has also handled False Claims Act and healthcare fraud matters.
He is a 1994 graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he obtained a BA in civil engineering. He earned his law degree in 1999 from the Southern Illinois University School of Law.