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Patrick is a former federal prosecutor with a proven track record of navigating clients through their most sensitive and challenging matters. Patrick regularly performs sensitive internal investigations for companies and, their Boards of Directors. He also represents companies and their executives in criminal and regulatory enforcement matters. Beyond that, he is a trial lawyer. He is equally adept defending companies and their executives as he is prosecuting claims on their behalf up through verdict.

Patrick has been recognized as a leading lawyer in white-collar and government investigations. Chambers USA has been ranking Patrick since 2019 to this day. In 2020, Crain’s Chicago Business named Patrick to its prestigious 40 Under 40 list, noting that he was “widely viewed as the best investigator” while an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Patrick is an accomplished trial lawyer, having taken more than a dozen cases to trial. His trial experience spans federal and state court, and he has trial experience bringing and defending against claims on behalf of his clients. Patrick brings passion, insightfulness, and a methodological approach to trial, helping clients achieve their goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. When not trying cases, Patrick draws on his trial experience to help his clients in litigation and enforcement matters focus on key objectives and how best to achieve those objectives. Representative litigation matters span antitrust, racketeering, breaches of fiduciary duty, securities fraud, to other commercial and business litigation claims. 

Before joining King & Spalding, Patrick served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. He was Deputy Chief of General Crimes, responsible for training and supervising new Assistant U.S. Attorneys on federal criminal procedure, grand jury practice, investigative techniques, and trials. Patrick led hundreds of grand jury investigations, prosecuted high-profile criminal cases through to trial, and briefed and argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Patrick has served as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law, where he co-teaches a course on Chicago’s gun violence epidemic.

Earlier in his career, Patrick clerked for the Honorable Richard C. Wesley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

Full Bio

Credentials

J.D., Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Order of the Coif

B.S. Mathematics, University of Notre Dame

Illinois

New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Judicial Clerk, Honorable Richard C. Wesley, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Excellence in Law Enforcement Award


COOK COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS

Close

Recognition

Excellence in Law Enforcement Award


COOK COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS

National Award for Outstanding Investigation in a Complex Interrelated Priority Target Investigation


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ORGANIZED CRIME DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCES

Top Ranked Lawyer, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations


Chambers USA, Illinois (2020-2022)

Patrick Otlewski is a careful and extraordinarily hard-working lawyer.


Chambers USA (2022)

Director's Award for Superior Performance by a Litigation Team


U.S. Department of Justice

Mitch Mars Prosecutorial Excellence Award


Chicago Crime Commission, 2014 and 2017

Matters

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 300 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of securities fraud arising out of a SPAC for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

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Matters

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 300 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of securities fraud arising out of a SPAC for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

Internal investigation into allegations of employee misconduct and control failures for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a tenured professor for the Board of Trustees of a public university.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by executive personnel for the Board of Trustees of a pension fund.

Internal investigation following an employee-involved shooting for a Fortune 50 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of accounting fraud and misleading public disclosures for a Fortune 100 company.

Multiple internal investigations involving whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers for publicly held companies.

Defended the founder of a bank in parallel Department of Justice criminal and OCC regulatory investigations, successfully obtaining closure of the criminal investigation and resolving the regulatory investigation on favorable terms.

Defended a U.S. government contractor in parallel criminal and civil investigations by the Department of Justice into allegations of False Claims Act violations, with no charges brought.

Defended a company and its executives in a Department of Justice criminal investigation into allegations of public corruption, with no charges brought.

Defending two members of the Board of Directors of an investment firm in an SEC enforcement investigation, with no charges brought.

Defended an individual targeted by the Department of Justice for criminal allegations of commodities fraud and insider trading, successfully obtaining a full declination of all federal charges.

Defended an individual who was the target of an export violation investigation by the Department of Justice, obtaining a misdemeanor plea deal on behalf of the client.

Trial counsel for a publicly held company in a seven-week federal antitrust trial, with allegations of conspiracy to violate the federal Sherman Act.

Trial counsel for an asset management company in a two-week breach-of-contract trial in state court, where the investment firm prevailed on its counterclaim and was found not liable against the plaintiffs’ claims seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Trial counsel for a construction company in litigation against the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, where the court entered a temporary restraining order against the Toll Highway Authority.

Trial counsel for an investment advisory firm in breach-of-fiduciary-duty and defamation litigation with former executives.

Litigation counsel for major automobile manufacturers in an ongoing Clean Air Act preemption case.

Litigation counsel for the CFTC Chairman, two CFTC Commissioners, the CFTC Director of Enforcement, and other CFTC officials in federal contempt proceedings, successfully obtaining mandamus relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. See In re: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 7th Cir. Case No. 19-2769.

Litigation counsel to a medical device company in state court litigation involving breaches of contract related to insurance policies.

U.S. v. Eric Bloom: Represented the government in a four-week trial of the former president and CEO of futures commission merchant Sentinel Management Group. The jury found Bloom guilty of wire fraud and a criminal violation of the Investment Advisers Act. This was the largest fraud trial in Chicago’s history by dollar amount lost ($665 million).

U.S. v. Yihao Pu, Sahil Uppal: Led the prosecution of two employees who stole high-frequency trade algorithm data and code from a global Chicago-based financial institution and a New Jersey financial firm, resulting in their convictions for theft of trade secrets and obstruction of justice.

U.S. v. Gregory Chester, et al.: Led the investigation and trial team against leaders of the Hobos criminal enterprise. After a trial that spanned more than four months, the jury returned guilty verdicts against all defendants.

Matters

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 300 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of securities fraud arising out of a SPAC for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

See more

Close

Matters

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the Board of Directors of a Fortune 300 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of securities fraud arising out of a SPAC for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

Internal investigation into allegations of employee misconduct and control failures for the Board of Directors of a publicly held company.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by a tenured professor for the Board of Trustees of a public university.

Internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by executive personnel for the Board of Trustees of a pension fund.

Internal investigation following an employee-involved shooting for a Fortune 50 company.

Internal investigation into allegations of accounting fraud and misleading public disclosures for a Fortune 100 company.

Multiple internal investigations involving whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers for publicly held companies.

Defended the founder of a bank in parallel Department of Justice criminal and OCC regulatory investigations, successfully obtaining closure of the criminal investigation and resolving the regulatory investigation on favorable terms.

Defended a U.S. government contractor in parallel criminal and civil investigations by the Department of Justice into allegations of False Claims Act violations, with no charges brought.

Defended a company and its executives in a Department of Justice criminal investigation into allegations of public corruption, with no charges brought.

Defending two members of the Board of Directors of an investment firm in an SEC enforcement investigation, with no charges brought.

Defended an individual targeted by the Department of Justice for criminal allegations of commodities fraud and insider trading, successfully obtaining a full declination of all federal charges.

Defended an individual who was the target of an export violation investigation by the Department of Justice, obtaining a misdemeanor plea deal on behalf of the client.

Trial counsel for a publicly held company in a seven-week federal antitrust trial, with allegations of conspiracy to violate the federal Sherman Act.

Trial counsel for an asset management company in a two-week breach-of-contract trial in state court, where the investment firm prevailed on its counterclaim and was found not liable against the plaintiffs’ claims seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Trial counsel for a construction company in litigation against the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, where the court entered a temporary restraining order against the Toll Highway Authority.

Trial counsel for an investment advisory firm in breach-of-fiduciary-duty and defamation litigation with former executives.

Litigation counsel for major automobile manufacturers in an ongoing Clean Air Act preemption case.

Litigation counsel for the CFTC Chairman, two CFTC Commissioners, the CFTC Director of Enforcement, and other CFTC officials in federal contempt proceedings, successfully obtaining mandamus relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. See In re: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 7th Cir. Case No. 19-2769.

Litigation counsel to a medical device company in state court litigation involving breaches of contract related to insurance policies.

U.S. v. Eric Bloom: Represented the government in a four-week trial of the former president and CEO of futures commission merchant Sentinel Management Group. The jury found Bloom guilty of wire fraud and a criminal violation of the Investment Advisers Act. This was the largest fraud trial in Chicago’s history by dollar amount lost ($665 million).

U.S. v. Yihao Pu, Sahil Uppal: Led the prosecution of two employees who stole high-frequency trade algorithm data and code from a global Chicago-based financial institution and a New Jersey financial firm, resulting in their convictions for theft of trade secrets and obstruction of justice.

U.S. v. Gregory Chester, et al.: Led the investigation and trial team against leaders of the Hobos criminal enterprise. After a trial that spanned more than four months, the jury returned guilty verdicts against all defendants.

Credentials

J.D., Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Order of the Coif

B.S. Mathematics, University of Notre Dame

Illinois

New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Judicial Clerk, Honorable Richard C. Wesley, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Excellence in Law Enforcement Award


COOK COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS

Close

Recognition

Excellence in Law Enforcement Award


COOK COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS

National Award for Outstanding Investigation in a Complex Interrelated Priority Target Investigation


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ORGANIZED CRIME DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCES

Top Ranked Lawyer, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations


Chambers USA, Illinois (2020-2022)

Patrick Otlewski is a careful and extraordinarily hard-working lawyer.


Chambers USA (2022)

Director's Award for Superior Performance by a Litigation Team


U.S. Department of Justice

Mitch Mars Prosecutorial Excellence Award


Chicago Crime Commission, 2014 and 2017