Jeffrey Knox, former head of the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, is a Litigation Partner and member of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. He focuses on high-stakes criminal and regulatory matters, government investigations, and compliance counseling.
During his tenure at the DOJ, Mr. Knox served as the Chief and, before then, Principal Deputy Chief, of the Fraud Section, which has criminal enforcement responsibility for all Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations and prosecutions in the United States, and some of the Justice Department's highest priority cases involving securities fraud, accounting fraud, health care fraud, and defense procurement fraud.
In reaching charging decisions against dozens of institutions during his tenure, Mr. Knox was routinely involved in evaluating the strength of corporate compliance programs and the quality of companies' self-disclosures and cooperation in government investigations. He was a significant contributor to the DOJ and SEC joint publication of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and worked closely with the business community and legal, compliance and ethics leaders in increasing the transparency of enforcement decisions and priorities. With the Fraud Section’s emphasis on cross-border criminal investigations, Jeff worked in close collaboration with criminal and civil regulators throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. He also conducted and supervised numerous investigations in cooperation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Antitrust and Civil Divisions of the Justice Department, and United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.
Before joining the Fraud Section, Mr. Knox was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he served as Chief of the Violent Crimes & Terrorism Section, conducted jury trials and evidentiary hearings, and handled appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Knox prosecuted and supervised numerous cases involving international terrorism and terrorist financing, racketeering, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), money laundering, asset forfeiture, and export control violations. Mr. Knox prosecuted some of the most significant national security cases of the past decade, including al-Qaeda operatives for a terrorist plot targeting the New York City subway system; South American militants for a planned attack at JFK International Airport; and leaders and supporters of a South Asian terrorist organization for terrorist financing and international money laundering. In these roles, Mr. Knox worked closely with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Department of Defense, State Department, and Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Knox was the recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service (DOJ’s highest award), the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation, the Attorney General’s Award for Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security, the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation’s Federal Prosecutor of the Year Award, and the EOUSA Director’s Award for Superior Performance. He is recognized by The Legal 500 in White-Collar Criminal Defense and Securities: Shareholder Litigation.
Mr. Knox received his J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law in 1999 and his B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Arizona in 1996.