Daniel Polatsek is the co-chair of Ice Miller’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Group. Dan has more than two decades of experience representing companies and individuals in white collar criminal investigations, trials, complex civil litigation and administrative enforcement matters.
Dan has handled high-stakes matters for clients across a range of industries, including health care companies, insurance companies, financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and non-profit organizations. He has also represented numerous individuals, ranging from senior executives and board members to general counsel and other business professionals. Dan has defended corporate and individual clients in cases involving financial fraud, health care fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, tax fraud, violations of the Food Drug Cosmetic Act and other alleged business crimes. He also frequently counsels uncharged companies and individuals through the grand jury investigation process. In civil litigation, Dan defends clients where claims of intentional misconduct are alleged such as civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), common-law fraud or intentional fraudulent transfer.
Dan’s practice also includes leading and overseeing internal investigations involving alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), public corruption, conflict of interest schemes, whistle blower claims and other instances in which unlawful conduct has been alleged or is suspected.
Dan’s trial experience includes two multimillion-dollar civil RICO trials for a nationally recognized research and development company, a multimillion-dollar fraud trial for a top private equity broker and a trial on behalf of a merchant bank involving the misappropriation of confidential business information.
Prior to entering private practice, Dan served as the judicial law clerk to Justice McBride of the Illinois Court of Appeals for the First District.
Reported and Representative Cases
- Gas Technology Inst., et al. v. Amirali Rehmat, et al. No. 05 C 2712 (N.D. III.). Counsel to plaintiff in three-week federal jury trial involving claims of civil RICO, fraud and civil conspiracy. Jury verdict in favor of plaintiff on all counts resulting in a multimillion-dollar recovery for our client.
- Cement-Lock, LLC and Richard Mell v. Gas Technology Inst., et al. No. 05 C 0018 (N.D. III.). Counsel to defendants, a research and development company and three senior executives in eight-week federal jury trial involving claims of fraud, civil RICO, RICO conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty. At the conclusion of trial, the trial court dismissed or vacated the civil RICO and fraud claims in favor of all defendants and the jury dismissed the rest of the remaining claims.
- Galinsky v. Advanced Equities, Inc., Dwight Badger and Keith Daubenspeck, Case No. 10-00048 (2010). Counsel to plaintiff in four-week arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) involving claims of fraudulent inducement, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Panel award in favor of plaintiff resulting in a multimillion-dollar award for the client.
- Counsel to general contractor in ongoing federal grand jury investigation involving allegations of public corruption and potential violations of federal bribery laws.
- Counsel to senior compliance officer in ongoing federal grand jury investigation and parallel CFTC investigation involving potential violations of securities laws.
- Counsel to chief financial officer of healthcare company in ongoing federal grand jury investigation involving potential violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.
- Counsel to senior executive of a publicly traded company involving potential violations of insider trading laws.
- Retained by public university to serve as independent outside counsel to investigate allegations of systemic discrimination among administration and faculty.
- Counsel to senior executive of Fortune 500 company in federal grand jury investigation and parallel SEC investigation involving certain sales practices in potential violation of federal securities laws.
- Counsel to general counsel of manufacturing company in federal grand jury investigation involving alleged felony violations of the Internal Revenue Code.
- Counsel to Chief Executive Officer of captive insurance company in federal grand jury investigation involving the violations of Medicaid and Medicare Insurance.
- Counsel to nationally recognized research and development company in internal investigation involving a multimillion-dollar conflict of interest scheme perpetrated by several employees.
- Counsel to project management company in internal investigation involving allegations of public corruption and bribery of government officials.
- Counsel to a post-secondary educational institution against whistle blower claims involving the potentially improper use of Title IV funding.
- Counsel to company in the commodities industry in federal grand jury investigation involving alleged felony violations of the Internal Revenue Code.
- Counsel to publicly traded company in internal investigation involving a multimillion-dollar fraudulent billing scheme through the use of a third-party payment administrator.
- Counsel to insurance brokerage firm in internal investigation involving a multimillion-dollar conflict of interest scheme.
- Counsel to hedge fund in internal investigation involving the unlawful procurement of life insurance policies as investment vehicles.
- Counsel to lending institution in action against senior executives engaged in the fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements.
Firm Publications
News
Blog Posts
Published In
- "Compliance Expectations Amid the COVID-19 Crisis," Risk Management, September 1, 2020
- “Strategic Considerations When Conducting an Internal Investigation,” The Corporate Counselor, January 2009
- “Pleading, Standing and Proximate Cause in Civil RICO,” The Practical Litigator, May 2007
- “Effectively Managing an Inadvertent Disclosure of Privileged Materials,” The Practical Litigator, November 2003
- “Enforcement of Foreign Media Judgements in the Aftermath of Gutnick v. Dow Joes,” Communications Lawyer, April 2003
- “Attorney-Client Privilege, Corporate Clients and the Control-Group Test,” Illinois Bar Journal, February 2003
- “Preserving the Attorney-Client Privilege: Ex Parte Interviews of Former Corporate Employees,” For the Defense, December 2002
- “The Reporter’s Privilege for the Seventh Circuit, The Reporter’s Committee for the Freedom of the Press,” November 2002
Speaking Engagements
- "Conducting Remote Investigations: Practical Guidance and Best Practices" Corporate Counsel Business Journal, April 2020
- "Managing Compliance Risks in a Remote Workplace: Corporate Fraud and Internal Controls," Ice Miller Webinar, April 2020
- "How to Avoid a Sweeping Regulatory Investigation," Today's General Counsel, June, 2019
- “When a Crisis Hits: How to Gain Control of the Data, the Facts and Your Message," General Council Institute, March 2019
- "How Not to Mess Up a Litigation Hold," Today's General Counsel, October 2018
- “Five Ways to Better Control Discovery Spend,” ACC Legal Operations Conference, June 2017
- “Controlling Litigation Costs,” Bloomberg Law, February 23, 2017
- “What Happens When E-Discovery Meets Investigations,” Inside Counsel Magazine Webinar, March 2016
- “TAR 2.0 for Smart People: Moving Beyond E-Discovery Review,” LegalTech, February 2016.
- “Internal Investigations and the Attorney-Client Privilege,” Knowledge Congress, August 2014
- “Employee Malfeasance & Internal Investigations: A Roadmap for Chief Financial Officers,” Media Financial Management Association, May 2011
- “What HR Executives Needs to Know about Conducting an Internal Investigation,” ExecSense Webinar, October 2010
- “Managing Ethical Issues in Electronic Discovery,” Practicing Legal Ethics in the Electronic Law Office, June 2010
- “Managing Ethical Issues in Electronic Discovery,” Half Moon Seminars, LLC, June 2010
- “Discovering Occupational Fraud in the Workplace: It’s What You Do Next That Counts,” Media Financial Management Association, January 2010
- “Attorney-Client Privilege: Who, What, Where, Why, and When in Illinois,” Trade & Professional Association Law Committee Meeting, April 2009
- BCFM/BCCA 2007 Annual Conference
- “Managing Internal Investigations Involving Employee Fraud,” Media Financial Management Association National Conference, May 2007
- “Electronic Discovery in the Digital Age of Media,” Media Financial Management Association, April 2007