Carolyn McNiven, a former federal prosecutor, is an experienced white collar attorney who specializes in health care compliance and enforcement defense and in representing individuals and companies facing complex criminal matters.

She has experience handling fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), public corruption, tax, anti-trust and Dodd-Frank whistleblower investigations and securities matters. For health care sector clients, she provides Anti-Kickback and Stark Act advice; due diligence and risk assessments; False Claims Act (FCA) and qui tam defense; Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) compliance and defense including misbranding, off-label promotion, drug pricing and other food and drug matters. She has extensive experience in provider-side health care fraud enforcement and serves as DLA Piper's point person on food safety issues.

From 1997 to 2010, Ms. McNiven worked for the US Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago and, from 2004 to 2010, as Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds and Special Prosecutions Section. As a Deputy Chief, Ms. McNiven established the district's Health Care Fraud Task Force, designed its criminal health care fraud and food and drug enforcement programs and supervised more than 25 prosecutors involved in health care and food and drug criminal matters. She also was deeply involved in qui tam matters, loss assessment and attendant litigation.

Ms. McNiven personally handled numerous high-profile investigations and prosecutions, including ones involving sitting government officials, corporate executives, medical professionals, health care systems, health care manufacturers and large multinational corporations. She handled FCPA investigations and successfully prosecuted numerous bank fraud, public corruption, criminal tax, Ponzi schemes and other financial fraud matters. She has received numerous law enforcement commendations for her outstanding anti-fraud and anti-corruption work.

Since joining DLA Piper as a partner in 2010, Ms. McNiven has personally handled a variety of sensitive anti-trust, public corruption, health care and tax matters as well as provided compliance and white collar counseling for clients.

In December 2010, The American Lawyer noted that Ms. McNiven is part of the team assisting with regulatory and due diligence compliance for Pfizer's US$3.6 billion acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals, its largest deal since its purchase of Wyeth in 2009.

Ms. McNiven, a California native, attended U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall Law School, where she served as senior executive editor on the law review. After graduation, Ms. McNiven clerked for a federal district court judge and practiced law at a prominent Chicago firm.

Ms. McNiven is committed to providing pro bono services. In 2011 she traveled to Guyana as a member of a DLA Piper team to train police prosecutors. She is a firm Legal Alliance for Women (LAW) representative.

Representative Matters (Public Service)

• Prosecuted former public official who paid money to Governor Blagojevich and was a key witness for the prosecution in United States v. Blagojevich. United States v. Ali Ata (tax fraud and false statements)
• Prosecuted key fundraiser for Governor Blagojevich for defrauding lenders and investors, United States v. Rezko II (wire fraud); and handled all detention and appellate matters during trial on separate indictment. United States v. Rezko I (public corruption)
• Secured convictions of executives of energy company for "cooking the books" by falsifying expenses. United States v. Stoffer et al. (wire fraud)
• Obtained forfeiture from and conviction of conman-real estate developer. United States v. Grossman (bank fraud, mail fraud, money laundering)
• Arrested and convicted a US diplomat for selling visas at overseas embassy. United States v. Carroll (bribery)

Representative Matters (Private Practice)

• FCPA and RDPAC compliance counseling and training for international pharmaceutical manufacturer
• Represent clients in connection with federal grand jury investigations relating to allegations of FCPA and criminal anti-trust violations, TARP fraud, health care and other financial fraud matters
• Pre-acquisition compliance and fraud due diligence for health sector clients
• Stark Act and Anti-Kickback Act counseling for health providers
• Internal investigations relating to whistle blower allegations
• Counseling clients regarding consequences of guilty pleas and civil settlements including HHS-OIG exclusion, tax, civil liability, compliance and reporting obligations and related matters

Other Experience

• Jury trials have included multi-defendant and multi-count fraud cases
• Extensive experience in bond, detention and forfeiture matters
• Familiar with covert investigation practices, including wiretaps, consensual monitoring and issues surrounding cooperating witnesses, defendants and sources
• Highly skilled in assessing all types of white collar criminal cases swiftly and obtaining the most advantageous possible outcomes for clients