William Johnson

Bill Johnson represents entities and individuals in government investigations in white-collar criminal and regulatory matters, and resulting litigation. Bill also represents clients in data privacy and security matters, including counseling clients on cybersecurity risk disclosures and disclosure controls. Bill is a former federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he served as Chief of its Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Bill is also a former Enforcement Division attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bill represents clients in investigations and litigation involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as other federal, state and local agencies. He also conducts internal investigations and advises clients on anti-corruption matters.

Previously, Bill was Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. In this role, he led a unit of prosecutors and law enforcement agents in investigations, trials, appeals and other litigation related to insider trading, fraudulent investment schemes, corporate financial fraud and options backdating. As Chief and Deputy Chief, Bill oversaw the investigation and prosecution of many notable cases, including Bernard Madoff, Galleon Group/Raj Rajaratnam, Marc Dreier, Refco and Adelphia. Before that, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, Bill investigated and prosecuted some of the nation's highest-profile securities fraud cases, including former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and CFO Scott Sullivan, Steven Madden and Michael Milken.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bill served as Senior Counsel in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, leading investigations and litigation, and in the Office of the General Counsel, Appellate Litigation Group.

Bill also served as an Independent Monitor for the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department, where Bill led a team of police practices experts evaluating the department's compliance with a federal consent decree mandating policy and procedure improvements regarding the use of excessive force.

Bill has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a 2017 U.S. Litigation Star and by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading individual in Litigation—White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations. He has also been recognized by Legal 500 in Litigation—White-Collar Criminal Defense and in Financial Services Litigation.