Boyd M Johnson III

Practice Areas

Boyd Johnson serves as the Co-Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice and the Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s New York Office. Leveraging 30 years of public and private sector experience, Mr. Johnson represents companies and senior executives in criminal investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, and civil litigations. Over the past three decades, Mr. Johnson has served in a variety of senior roles, including Co-Chair of WilmerHale’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice; General Counsel for Soros Fund Management, the investment management firm founded by George Soros; and Deputy United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As a skilled trial lawyer who has tried cases to verdict and managed litigation matters in-house, Mr. Johnson is uniquely positioned to bring high-stakes disputes to positive resolutions for clients. For the past decade, Chambers USA has consistently recognized Mr. Johnson as one of the nation’s leading defense lawyers, most recently with its highest Band 1 ranking.

As the Co-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice with attorneys in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Denver, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and London, Mr. Johnson leads representations of public and private companies and their boards and senior executives in criminal and civil investigations conducted by the DOJ, the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the New York City Department of Investigation. Mr. Johnson has successfully represented companies in high-stakes criminal and civil cases involving securities and accounting fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and public corruption, antitrust, Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering, False Claims Act and FIRREA, and cybersecurity incidents. He also represents companies and their senior executives in a variety of complex civil litigation.

Professional Memberships

Mr. Johnson is an active member of the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Council. He has served on the New York City Bar’s White Collar Crime Committee. He is actively engaged with a number of New York–based not-for-profit groups, including serving on the board of the New York Legal Assistance Group.

Career

From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Johnson served as General Counsel for Soros Fund Management. In that role, he oversaw legal, compliance, and regulatory functions in New York, London, and Hong Kong, and supervised the firm’s litigations, employment disputes, and regulatory inquiries. Mr. Johnson managed relationships with the SEC, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. He supervised the negotiation and structuring of capital markets transactions; mergers and acquisitions; and hundreds of investments across public and private equities and credit, venture capital, distressed debt, global macro, real estate, and other investment strategies. Mr. Johnson served on the boards of directors of the firm’s offshore and onshore funds and portfolio companies. He also served as a member of the firm’s Leadership Team and on the Valuation, Liquidity and Risk and Cybersecurity Committees.

Before joining WilmerHale, Mr. Johnson served as the Deputy US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and oversaw all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the SDNY. He supervised over 200 Assistant US Attorneys and managed the largest criminal enforcement effort against hedge fund insider trading in history; the criminal prosecutions and civil forfeiture proceedings related to the Bernard Madoff fraud; and FCPA, money laundering, tax fraud, and cybersecurity investigations and prosecutions. As Deputy US Attorney, Mr. Johnson participated in the creation of the SDNY’s Civil Frauds Unit and oversaw False Claims Act and FIRREA lawsuits against financial services firms and healthcare companies.

Before becoming Deputy US Attorney, Mr. Johnson served as Chief of the SDNY's Public Corruption Unit. In that capacity, he supervised bribery and embezzlement prosecutions of members of the US Congress, New York State legislators, and New York City council members, as well as global corruption investigations at the United Nations. While at the US Attorney’s Office, Mr. Johnson also served as the Chief of the International Narcotics Trafficking Unit, focusing on the extradition and prosecution of drug kingpins, narco-terrorists, and members of global money laundering networks. In that role, he worked with the US Treasury Department to build prosecutions against the leaders of the Cali Cartel and Taliban based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Before serving as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Johnson represented companies in antitrust, false advertising, accounting fraud, and securities fraud matters for five years at another international law firm. After graduating from Cornell Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Laughlin E. Waters in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Experience

Financial Fraud, Insider Trading, and Other DOJ Matters

Represented NYS Executive Chamber in connection with DOJ Civil Rights investigation of former governor

Represented NYC mayoral campaign in connection with DOJ campaign finance investigation

Represented global financial services company in connection with DOJ investigation of manipulative trading

Represented US financial services firms in parallel DOJ and SEC investigations regarding derivatives and mortgage-backed securities trading activity

Represented Audit and Risk Committee of securities broker dealer in DOJ and SEC investigations concerning offshore trading operations

Represented multiple US financial services companies in DOJ and SEC investigations of alleged insider trading activity

Represented international construction management firm in DOJ investigation of historical union billing practices

Represented head of global money markets for financial services firm in LIBOR-related investigations by the DOJ, the CFTC, and the UK FCA

Represented senior executives at global financial services firms in DOJ, SEC, and UK FCA investigations of FX trading

Represented equity capital markets executive in DOJ investigation of stocks trading

FCPA and Public Corruption

Represented Fortune 100 company in connection with DOJ’s FIFA corruption investigation

Represented New York State agency concerning allegations of official corruption related to real estate development projects

Represented public company in oil services industry in DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations

Represented General Manager of Ukrainian pharmaceutical company in DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations

Represented Chief Financial Officer of Argentinian pharmaceutical company in DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations

Represented General Manager of Brazilian aeronautical services company in DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations

Complex Civil Litigation

Represented global financial services company in SDNY class actions related to Jeffrey Epstein

Represented pension plan owner in cum-ex trading tax litigations brought in SDNY by governments of Denmark and Belgium

Represented global financial services company in False Claims Act suit regarding mortgage-backed securities

Represented board of trustees of multi-billion-dollar pension fund in consent decree litigation in SDNY

Represented foreign bank in federal court proceeding to vacate FINRA arbitration award regarding rights to trading platform intellectual property

Represented public relations firm and executive in motion to quash proceedings in New York State Supreme Court

Represented municipal agency with 11,000 employees concerning DOJ investigation of certification for federal funding

Represented NYC Housing Authority in connection with federal consent decree

AML and Economic Sanctions

Represented US financial services company in DOJ criminal investigation for failure to file suspicious activity reports

Represented US financial services companies in DOJ and SEC investigations of alleged money laundering by financial advisers and their clients

Represented US financial services firm in DOJ investigation relating to alleged OFAC violations

Represented US financial services firm in DOJ and bank regulatory investigations of historical Bank Secrecy Act/AML program

Conducted numerous internal investigations for global financial services firms relating to Bank Secrecy Act/AML programs

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Represented global financial services company in connection with vendor data security and ransomware incidents

Represented US financial securities firm in data beach investigations by DOJ, SEC, numerous state attorneys general, and bank regulators

Advised US financial securities firms on cybersecurity infrastructure and data privacy issues

Advised global investment adviser concerning data security incidents

Ethics & Compliance

Conducted numerous DOJ-focused compliance reviews of public companies

Performed year-long review of US Drug Enforcement Administration’s international operations to ensure maximum effectiveness and compliance with laws

Developed and implemented financial crimes compliance surveillance program for global investment adviser

Pro Bono Matters

Provided pro bono representation to indigent criminal defendants in US Courts of Appeal

Represented injured US war veterans in appeals for benefits

Advised clients of New York Legal Assistance Group on immigration matters

Counseled providers of gender-affirming care

Government Experience

Department of Justice

United States Attorney's Office

Deputy US Attorney, Southern District of New York

Department of Justice

United States Attorney's Office

Chief, Criminal Division - Public Corruption Unit, Southern District of New York

Department of Justice

United States Attorney's Office

Chief, Criminal Division - International Narcotics Trafficking Unit, Southern District of New York

Publications

Preserving Privilege in Government Investigations in Light of 'SEC v. Herrera' - New York Law Journal

WilmerHale, Waivers and When to Stop Investing - Global Investigations Review

CCOs Advised on Anti-Insider Trading Tactics - Compliance Intelligence

Education

Awards