Direct dial: (212) 370-0331
Email: gpetrillo@pkbllp.com
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Guy Petrillo

Guy Petrillo represents clients in civil and criminal litigation, antitrust enforcement proceedings, regulatory enforcement matters, and corporate investigations and advises on compliance and governance issues. He is a litigator with extensive experience both as a partner in law firms with sophisticated white collar, trial and civil litigation practices and as a former prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where he served, in 2008 and 2009, as Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York ("SDNY") and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the SDNY (1990-97).

In the more than ten years between 1997 and year-end 2007, Mr. Petrillo, as a partner in a law firm, represented individuals and business entities in government enforcement matters (including prosecutions and investigations by federal and state criminal authorities, the New York Attorney General, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Exchange Commission and the self-regulatory organizations), civil litigation in federal and state courts, appeals and internal investigations.

In January 2008, Mr. Petrillo was appointed Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, a position he held through October 2009. In that post, he supervised the investigative, trial and appellate work of more than 150 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, in two offices and ten units, including Securities and Commodities Fraud, Complex Frauds, Terrorism and National Security, Organized Crime, Public Corruption, International Narcotics, Narcotics, General Crimes and Asset Forfeiture.

Earlier in his career, after working for four years as an associate in the litigation department of Davis Polk & Wardwell, Mr. Petrillo joined the Criminal Division of the SDNY, where, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he led investigations and trials in fraud, racketeering, money laundering, firearms, violent crimes and narcotics cases and argued numerous appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As a senior Assistant, Mr. Petrillo served as Chief of the Narcotics Unit (1995-96) and as the Criminal Division's Chief Appellate Attorney (1996-97).

Since co-founding Petrillo Klein & Boxer in January 2010, Mr. Petrillo has continued to practice in the areas of civil litigation, regulatory enforcement and criminal investigations and litigation. He has represented individuals and business entities before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission, the DOJ Fraud Section, the DOJ Antitrust Division, the DOJ Civil Division, U.S. Attorney's Offices in New York and other jurisdictions, the New York Attorney General, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, state insurance and securities regulators in New York and other states, the U.S. Senate, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and other government agencies. In addition, he has led and participated in internal investigations for several corporate clients. In civil litigation and dispute resolution, Mr. Petrillo has recently represented clients in multi-million dollar disputes in federal district and bankruptcy court, in arbitration hearings and proceedings and in pre-complaint settlement negotiations.

Professional Activities and Recognition

Mr. Petrillo is an adjunct Lecturer at Columbia Law School, where he teaches a class on current topics in criminal prosecution and defense. He has been a panelist in continuing education programs sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Practising Law Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, West's On-Line and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is also a member of the White Collar Criminal Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Mr. Petrillo was recognized in Chambers USA (2011) as leading practitioner in White Collar defense and in Super Lawyers (2011). In 2011, he was named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.

Recent Panels and Publications

Panelist, West's On-Line Webcast, Defending Clients in DOJ and SEC Investigations, January 19, 2012
Panelist, Practising Law Institute, White Collar Crime 2011: Prosecutors and Regulators Speak, New York City, October 3, 2011.
Co-author of chapter in Defending Corporations and Individuals in Government Investigations (West 2011).
Panelist, American Bankruptcy Institute, Annual Leadership Conference, "On a Collision Course: Ponzi Schemes, Bankruptcy, Receiverships and Forfeitures," La Quinta, CA (Dec. 2009).

Admissions/Education

Mr. Petrillo is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Petrillo is a graduate of New York University School of Law (J.D. 1986) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees (Chemistry; Political Science).