John Hillebrecht

John M. Hillebrecht is a partner in DLA Piper’s Litigation practice and a member of the White Collar group.

Mr. Hillebrecht is a veteran trial lawyer with an extensive background in high-profile cases and over 20 years of experience handling complex criminal and civil litigation and investigations. Immediately prior to joining DLA Piper, Mr. Hillebrecht served for 15 years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, garnering extensive trial, appellate and supervisory experience. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, regulatory enforcement and criminal tax matters.

Government Experience

Mr. Hillebrecht joined the United States Attorney's Office in February 1995. He was responsible for a wide variety of significant investigations and successful prosecutions in a wide range of areas, including racketeering, securities fraud, tax evasion, bank fraud and crimes of violence. He served as lead or sole counsel in more than 20 jury trials and approximately 50 Second Circuit appeals.

Mr. Hillebrecht served at various times as Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime and Terrorism Unit (with responsibility for supervising 20 prosecutors pursuing racketeering, terrorism, terrorism financing and financial fraud investigations and prosecutions), Chief of the Major Crimes/Complex Frauds Unit (with responsibility for supervising 15 prosecutors pursuing complex financial investigations and prosecutions, including those involving bank fraud, tax fraud, cybercrime and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations) and Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney. From 2007 through 2010, he also served as Senior Trial Counsel, with particular responsibility for white collar and tax fraud matters.

While at the United States Attorney's Office, Mr. Hillebrecht received the Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney and was awarded the Henry L. Stimson Medal by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in recognition of his history of leading complex prosecutions and his role as lead prosecutor in the largest tax fraud prosecution in US history.

Before entering government service, Mr. Hillebrecht was in private practice, focusing on complex commercial litigation and securities cases.