Matt Hiller
PartnerMatt Hiller is a trusted advisor to corporate leaders navigating business-critical investigations, litigation, and crisis response. A former federal prosecutor with over a decade of experience at the Department of Justice, Matt brings deep insight into government enforcement strategy and a proven track record of leading complex and sensitive matters.
Matt counsels public and private corporations, executives, and prominent individuals in connection with fraud, corruption, ethics, threats, cyber, and national security investigations, often involving cross-border dimensions, reputational risk, and regulatory scrutiny. He leads internal investigations, navigates and defends criminal prosecutions and civil litigation, and helps clients respond to and mitigate crises.
Before joining the Department of Justice, Matt served on Senator George J. Mitchell's independent investigation into alleged illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances in Major League Baseball.
Matt's blend of government and private sector experience positions him as a strategic partner to boards and C-suites facing law enforcement and regulatory scrutiny, reputational risk, or operational disruption. He is frequently called upon to lead sensitive investigations, advise on enforcement risk, and help clients protect their reputation, people, and brand.
EXPERIENCE
Matt has successfully led clients through crisis response, criminal and regulatory investigations, physical and cyber threats, internal investigations, parallel investigations, complex civil litigation, and remediation. He has secured favorable outcomes from courts, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies. Matt's representative matters include:
- Guiding multinational companies through domestic and cross border investigations involving corruption and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) allegations, fraud, supply chain and vendor integrity, and the False Claims Act
- Combating and responding to physical, cyber, and financial threats, harassment, and extortion
- Investigating and mitigating account and website spoofing and takeovers, and business email compromise scenarios
- Combatting and navigating embezzlement and trade secret theft
- Responding to and remediating investment fund accounting fraud and irregularity allegations
- Preparing executives for testimony in federal trials and interviews with law enforcement
- Representing high-profile athletic leagues, teams, and leaders through investigations, threats, and complex matters unique to professional and amateur athletics
- Defending ethics complaints and investigations from regulators and inspector generals
- Responding to complex and sensitive whistleblower complaints
- Investigating and remediating executive misconduct
- Leading merger & acquisition (M&A) investigations and responding to failure to disclose allegations
- Consulting on national security and human rights issues including the Trump Administration's focus on the total elimination of cartels, foreign terrorist organizations, forced labor, counterintelligence, and trade secret and intellectual property theft
Awards
Chambers USA
- Band 4, Illinois Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, (2024 – 2025)
The Legal 500 United States
- Recommended, Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, (2019)
Additional Awards
- Department of Justice's Director's Award for assisting the prosecution of Tahawwur Rana, who facilitated the planning of the 2008 siege of Mumbai, India, and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and a planned attack against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten
- Chief Postal Inspector Award for the investigation and prosecution of Operation Shopstyle
- Cook County Crime Stoppers, Excellence in Law Enforcement Award
- J.D., University of Illinois College of Law
- B.A., University of Missouri
Bylines
- Co-author, "False Claims Act Settlement Underscores Importance of Government Contracts-Specific M&A Diligence," Lex, July 2022
- Co-author, "Trade Secret Litigation," Corporate Disputes Magazine, October - December, 2021
Media Mentions
- "Romanian Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar met with prosecutors from the United States Department of Justice," Ziare.com, December 5, 2017
- "Chinese Businessman Sentenced to Ten Years in US Prison for Attempting to Provide Military Equipment to Peruvian Terrorist Organization," United States Department of Justice, June 6, 2017
- "The Children of ISIS," Rolling Stone, March 25, 2015
- "Three American teens, recruited online, are caught trying to join the Islamic State," Washington Post, December 8, 2014
- "Black Market Travel Agents: 38 Defendants Indicted in Multi-Million Dollar Fraud," United States Department of Justice, July 9, 2010
- "Travel scheme results in 38 indictments," The Kansas City Star, July 10, 2010
Prior Experience
During the more than 10 years he spent as an Assistant US Attorney in Kansas City and Chicago, Matt focused on national security and cybercrimes, including export control and trade sanctions, state sponsored intrusions, counterintelligence, theft of trade secrets, cyber-fraud, and international terrorism. In addition, Matt investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of federal crimes, among them, mail and wire fraud, embezzlement, obstruction of justice, identity theft, tax fraud, narcotics conspiracies, and crimes against children. He also gained extensive federal trial and appellate experience.
Several examples of Matt's diverse federal prosecution experience include:
- The investigation and prosecution of Operation Shopstyle, which included 38 defendants who operated black-market travel agencies that caused more than US$20 million in losses to the airline industry. The conspirators used corporate insiders and overseas hackers to amass stolen credit card information to fund the scheme. The conspiracies operated out of Chicago, Atlanta, California, New York, and Florida
- His work with FBI's Art-Theft Team in connection with the investigation and recovery of looted cultural artifacts
- The prosecution of a novel environmental and maritime criminal case involving extensive expert witness litigation, complex evidence, and overcoming an adverse civil trial outcome from a parallel proceeding
- His leadership of a team investigating overseas ISIS militants. Matt coordinated the international investigations with prosecutors, law enforcement, and security services in the Balkans and Western Europe. These investigations led to the disruption of numerous ISIS supporters, including multiple prosecutions in the United States and abroad
- Developing strategy and techniques to harness and analyze critical electronic evidence. Matt developed training for US and international law enforcement to increase core competencies in cyber investigative techniques for any criminal violation, including the collection and analysis of electronic evidence, managing the obstacles presented by encryption, and working within the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA)
Teaching and Training Experience
Matt is regularly asked to lecture on law enforcement and regulatory priorities, investigative technics, and ethics.
Matt trained thousands of investigators and prosecutors across the United States for the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Securities & Exchange Commission.
He also trained international prosecutors, investigators, judges, and intelligence services in Bosnia, Kosovo, Romania, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates on a variety of issues, including cyber investigative techniques, money laundering, and executing cross-border investigations.
Matt also lectured at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany on cyber investigative techniques and the role of the rule of law in counterterrorism investigations.
