Eric H. Sussman

Practice Areas

Agribusiness and Food

Compliance, Government Investigations, and False Claims Act Defense

Financial and Regulatory Litigation

Healthcare

Litigation

White Collar, Compliance and Investigations

Career

Eric Sussman is a former federal prosecutor and accomplished trial lawyer who defends clients in white collar criminal and securities enforcement matters, internal investigations and complex commercial litigation. He has tried over 35 federal and state cases, briefed and argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, handled arbitration proceedings before the International Court of Arbitration, and directed hundreds of complex investigations. Clients – through Chambers and Partners – cite Eric as "a remarkable individual" who is "very intelligent and ... thoughtful in his analysis."

Eric’s extensive government and private practice experience in the white collar space provides him the unique ability to support clients undergoing internal investigations involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), False Claims Act (FCA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violations and antitrust violations, Dodd-Frank whistleblower investigations, insider trading issues, and health care fraud matters, including FCA and Anti-Kickback allegations.

He also represents individuals and corporations in investigations and litigation with state attorneys general, the SEC, Department of Justice (DOJ), Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Departure of Agriculture (USDA) and other governmental agencies. Additionally, Eric has successfully defended clients in proceedings involving the DOJ’s FCPA unit and Antitrust Division.

Eric served as deputy chief in the Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago for over nine years. While in this role, Eric successfully prosecuted numerous high-profile white collar criminal cases, including the embezzlement of millions of dollars by Conrad Black and other top executives of Hollinger International, the willful violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations by one of the country’s largest electrical contracting companies, fraud and USDA food safety violations by a large food-storage warehouse company and the operations of a multi-million dollar jewelry theft ring.

Most recently, he served as the First Assistant State’s Attorney for Cook County where he supervised over 800 lawyers and investigators in the criminal, appellate and juvenile justice bureaus as well as the civil actions bureau.

Education