Bill Codinha has spent almost his entire career working on government investigations and white collar cases. He joined the firm after serving as first assistant district attorney and chief of the Trial Division of the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. He also served as a special assistant attorney general to the Massachusetts Special Commission Concerning State and County Buildings (usually referred to as the Ward Commission). During his prosecutorial career, Bill tried over one hundred jury trials; including twenty-one first degree murder cases and numerous organized crime cases.
Bill currently divides his practice between white-collar criminal and complex civil cases. He serves as New England litigation counsel for a variety of national corporations. In that capacity, he has represented individuals and corporations in civil and criminal securities, RICO, fraud, antitrust, FCA, professional liability, environmental, and general business litigation. He has also supervised numerous corporate internal investigations. He routinely represents clients before state and federal grand juries and investigative bodies, as well as representing clients called before legislative and congressional committees.
During the 1990's, Bill served in Washington, D.C., as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, where he led the investigation and conducted the hearings into the question of whether American prisoners had been left behind after the Vietnam War. He later returned to Washington to serve as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where he headed the first Senate “Whitewater” investigation and led those hearings. He then returned to Nixon Peabody, where he continues to practice from both the Boston and Washington offices.
Bill has taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School as part of its adjunct faculty. He has also taught at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Bill was appointed in 2011 by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts as Special Counsel to the Commission on Judicial Conduct to conduct a confidential judicial investigation of a sitting Massachusetts judge.
Representative Cases
False Claims/Qui Tam
- Successful defense of target national office supplies corporation of federal False Claims Act, Mass. False Claims Act, NH False Claims Act charges (U.S. attorney criminal/civil-MA.; MA. AG., NH AG.)
- Defense of target national corporation of False Claims Act, fraud, and RICO violations (U.S. Atty-NH.; Dept of Defense; Department of Homeland Security)
- Successful defense of target national corporation of False Claims Act, fraud, and money laundering charges (U.S. Atty-CT; CT. AG.).
- Successful defense of major NYC medical school for qui tam violations (U.S. Atty-SDNY).
- Successful defense of major national healthcare institution in state and federal qui tam investigations (U.S. Atty.-MA; MA. AG).
- Defense of national pharmaceutical company during Main Justice qui tam investigation involving AWP charges to Medicaid (DOJ; various states AGs).
Securities Fraud
- Successful defense of target CEO in an insider trading investigation (SEC-MA).
- Successful defense of target manager at Prudential in the “market timing” investigations (N.Y. AG, MA. AG, SEC, U.S. Atty-MA).
- Successful defense of target CEO and target CFO in “options timing” investigations in MA and CA. (SEC; U.S. Atty-MA; U.S. Atty-CA.)
- Successful defense of target analyst at Merrill Lynch in the New York attorney general’s “dot-com” investigation (NY. AG, SEC).
- Successful defense of major trading companies in CS/First Boston IPO investigation (U.S. Atty.-SDNY, SEC).
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act/Money Laundering
- Successful defense of international metal refining company for EPA violations and foreign corrupt practices violations (EPA, U.S. Atty-MA).
- Successful defense of multi-national metal refining company for money laundering and tax fraud (U.S. Atty-MA; U.S. Atty-FL).
RICO
- Defense of target national corporation in bribery, bid-rigging, and RICO investigation (U.S. Atty-IL; IL. AG).
- Successful defense of main target of Teamsters Election fraud—criminal RICO case (U.S. Atty.-SDNY; Congressional hearings).
Fraud
- Successful defense of National tutoring company in NCLB investigations (NYC, IG; CPS, IG)
- Successful defense of various syndicators and developers accused of fraud and equity skimming (HUD-OIG and U.S. Atty.-various districts).
- Successful defense of CEO target of publicly traded company (FDA, FTC, U.S. Atty.-Greenbelt; Congressional Hearings).
- Defense of CEO in Lacey Act criminal environmental investigation (DOJ criminal environmental division).
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Investigations
- Ongoing representation of a Fortune 100 company in response to confidential CID in a case involving alleged violations of Chapter 93A and the Massachusetts False Claims Act (MFCA) brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office – Public Protection Bureau.
- Ongoing defense of an Ohio company in response to a confidential CID brought pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 93A by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office – Public Protection Bureau.
- HomeServe USA—Successfully defended company in Massachusetts Attorney General’s office – Public Protection Bureau investigation claiming violation of Chapter 93A. Obtained favorable result with no admission of liability and no civil penalty.
- WB Mason—Defended a state and federal Chapter 93A and False Claims Act matter brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office – Public Protection Bureau for this Massachusetts headquartered office products dealer. Successfully had the case transferred from the criminal to the civil division and resolved it with no FCA finding and no admission of liability.
- State Farm Insurance—Successfully defended insurance company in two separate Chapter 93A matters brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office – Public Protection Bureau. The cases were dropped with no findings of liability.
- HCA Healthcare—Defended worldwide private operator of healthcare facilities in an MFCA/Medicare/Chapter 93A claim brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. The case was resolved without findings of liability.