CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
John
Kocoras: From Prosecutor, to Kroll, to McDermott Will
23 Corporate Crime Reporter 24, June 17, 2009
Foot doctor bills Medicare for operations he didn’t conduct.
Government investigates.
FBI calls patients and asks – did the doctor operate.
Foot doctor tries to head off the investigation.
Calls patients.
Wants to talk.
One patient tells doctor she’s going to tell the truth.
Foot doctor kills patient before she can appear before a grand jury.
Foot doctor prosecuted for fraud.
Foot doctor prosecuted for obstruction of justice by murder.
Foot doctor sentenced to death.
Well, it’s not a run of the mill white collar crime case.
But it is the kind of white collar case that, apparently, comes down the pike in Chicago.
And it’s the kind of case that John Kocoras prosecuted when he was at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago.
Kocoras actually prosecuted that exact case.
The foot doctor now sits in a federal prison in Indiana.
Kocoras went from working for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, to four years at Kroll, to McDermott Will & Emery’s office in downtown Chicago.
Kocoras joined the McDermott firm as a partner last week.
He’ll be working in the firm’s expanding white collar unit.
He’s worked both sides of the street.
Isn’t it true that the resources available to corporate crime defendants far outweigh those available to the government?
“I have yet to meet a company that feels that it has greater resources at its disposal than the government,” Kocoras told Corporate Crime Reporter last week. “The government has tremendous resources at its disposal to investigate companies. And those resources appear to be growing in international cases, because cooperation seems to be improving with other countries. That increased cooperation has been an factor in the increase in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases that the Department of Justice is bringing.”
But you will hear prosecutors say – Okay, I’m at trial, and I’m sitting with my colleague at a table and I’m looking across the aisle at 10 to 15 defense attorneys in a corporate crime case.
“That’s right,” Kocoras says. “But none of those defense attorneys have badges. None have law enforcement agents with whom they work. None have the authority to get search warrants. And none have the ability to secure jail time. So, there is a substantial difference.”
How does the white collar practice differ in Chicago compared to the power centers of New York and D.C.?
“Chicago, despite being a big city, is still a relatively small legal community compared to New York,” Korcoras says. “There are great relationships between prosecutors and those in the criminal defense bar. Those relationships help facilitate justice in many cases.”
[For a complete transcript of the Interview with John Kocoras, see 23 Corporate Crime Reporter 24(13), print edition only.]
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