Matthew Galeotti

Matthew Galeotti, the former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, is a partner in the Government, Regulatory & Internal Investigations Practice Group in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Matthew brings a rare combination of senior Justice Department leadership and deep trial and investigations experience, both as a federal prosecutor and defense counsel. At the Justice Department, he helped shape national enforcement priorities and led some of the most complex matters in the Criminal Division. Matthew relies on his broad experience to provide practical advice to corporations, boards of directors and executives facing high-stakes internal investigations and complex enforcement and regulatory issues, including on matters pursued by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Matthew led the DOJ’s Criminal Division, where he oversaw federal criminal enforcement nationwide in key areas, including corporate enforcement, sanctions and money laundering, cybercrime, healthcare fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Bank Secrecy Act, including False Claims Act cases. He established key enforcement policies concerning corporate investigations, self-disclosure, digital assets and the proper scope of corporate resolutions. He supervised more than 1,300 attorneys and staff in the division, which investigated and prosecuted complex cases in jurisdictions across the country. 

As the highest-ranking Criminal Division official, Matthew engaged on behalf of the division with U.S. Attorney’s offices, the National Security Division and the Civil Division, in addition to other government agencies, such as the SEC, CFTC, the Department of Treasury, specifically FinCEN and OFAC, and the Department of State. He also supervised the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs and worked closely with foreign regulators and law enforcement regarding cross border investigations and prosecutions, including with the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office, France’s national financial prosecutor and the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.

Before his appointment at Main Justice, Matthew was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he prosecuted significant securities and other complex fraud schemes, cybercrime, FCPA violations, money laundering, organized crime and other significant national and cross-border cases. There, Matthew was an accomplished trial lawyer and served in leadership roles within the office, including as Deputy Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section. He received numerous awards for his achievements in public service, including the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Award for Superior Performance.

Earlier in his career, Matthew practiced at an international law firm representing companies and executives in criminal and regulatory investigations, trials and compliance matters. He also clerked for the Honorable Pamela K. Chen in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.