Andrew S. Boutros
Name: Andrew S. Boutros
Current Role: United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
Start Date: April 7, 2025
Appointment: Appointed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi, sworn in by U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall
Party Affiliation: Not publicly confirmed
Birth Details: Not publicly confirmed
Career Overview
Andrew S. Boutros is the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, the federal prosecutorial district that includes Chicago, Rockford, and 18 counties in northern Illinois. He took the oath of office on April 7, 2025, after previously serving as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and later working in private practice.
As U.S. Attorney, Boutros is the top federal law enforcement official in the district. The office handles criminal and civil matters involving public corruption, violent crime, financial fraud, cybercrime, immigration-related offenses, narcotics trafficking, national security, and other federal priorities.
Before returning to public office, Boutros built a national profile in white-collar criminal law, internal investigations, corporate compliance, and complex litigation. His career has moved between federal prosecution, private practice, legal education, and public commentary on criminal law.
Public Service
Boutros served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 2008 to 2015. During that period, he investigated and prosecuted hundreds of cases, including matters involving financial crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, customs violations, trade fraud, cybercrime, and other federal offenses.
The Justice Department credits his earlier prosecution work with cases of national and international significance. His work involved coordination with agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the IRS, the Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
In 2025, Boutros returned to the office as U.S. Attorney. In that role, he oversees one of the country’s most prominent federal prosecutor’s offices, long known for public corruption, organized crime, financial crime, and civil rights enforcement.
Law Firm Experience
From 2015 until his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Boutros worked in private practice in Chicago. His work focused on white-collar defense, internal investigations, False Claims Act matters, regulatory enforcement, securities disputes, corporate compliance, crisis response, and complex litigation.
He held leadership roles in government investigations and white-collar practices. The American Law Institute profile listed him as firmwide co-chair of Shook’s Government Investigations and White Collar Practice before his federal appointment.
Education and Early Life
Boutros earned a bachelor’s degree, In-Honors summa cum laude, from Virginia Tech. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
He has also maintained a long-running academic role at the University of Chicago Law School. The law school lists him as a Lecturer in Law since 2011, teaching a course on corporate criminal prosecutions and investigations.
Major Cases and Actions
As a federal prosecutor, Boutros handled several high-profile criminal matters. The Justice Department identifies his notable convictions as including the world’s largest online drug trafficker on the dark web, one of the country’s “Top Ten Most Wanted” mortgage fraud defendants, and the owner of a Chicago hospital who obstructed collection of more than $188 million in civil judgments.
Boutros also prosecuted a series of customs, international trade, food fraud, and anti-dumping duty cases involving approximately $260 million in losses. Those matters helped define his reputation in complex financial and cross-border enforcement.
In May 2026, Boutros publicly disputed reports that his office had opened a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll. He issued a statement saying the Northern District of Illinois “has not opened, and has never opened, a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.” The statement came after multiple news organizations reported that federal prosecutors in Chicago were examining issues connected to Carroll’s civil litigation against President Donald Trump. AP later reported that a person familiar with the matter clarified the inquiry was focused on a nonprofit that helped fund Carroll’s case, not Carroll herself.
Publications
Boutros has written extensively on criminal law, corporate enforcement, anti-corruption, compliance, and white-collar defense. The Justice Department states that he has published two books and nearly 160 articles and book chapters.
His books include The ABA Compliance Officer’s Deskbook, co-authored with T. Markus Funk and James T. O’Reilly, and From Baksheesh to Bribery: Understanding the Global Fight Against Corruption and Graft, co-edited with T. Markus Funk.
His published work reflects his focus on corporate criminal investigations, anti-corruption enforcement, compliance systems, and the responsibilities of prosecutors and defense lawyers in complex criminal matters.
Public Image and Focus
Boutros is known for work in white-collar criminal enforcement, corporate compliance, anti-corruption, cybercrime, and international fraud. His public profile combines experience as a federal prosecutor, private defense lawyer, lecturer, and author.
He has received the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s National Prosecutorial Award and the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section’s Norm Maleng Minister of Justice Award. The Justice Department also notes honors from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Fast Facts
- U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
- Took office on April 7, 2025.
- Previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 2008 to 2015.
- Worked in private practice on white-collar defense, investigations, compliance, and enforcement matters.
- Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School since 2011.
- Earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
- Graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Tech.
- Prosecuted dark web drug trafficking, mortgage fraud, hospital-related civil judgment obstruction, and trade fraud cases.
- Co-authored The ABA Compliance Officer’s Deskbook.
- Co-edited From Baksheesh to Bribery.
