Matthew J. Cannon has more than two decades of criminal and civil litigation experience. He has served as the First Chair in numerous federal jury trials and has combined his courtroom skills, his experience as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice (DOJ), and his wide-ranging civil litigation skills into a practice that combines anti-corruption compliance work and litigation. Matt focuses his practice on representing companies and individuals subject to government investigations and litigation. He also assists companies with implementing and assessing anti-corruption compliance programs throughout the world, including programs focused on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the U.K. Bribery Act.
Matt’s criminal and civil investigations and litigation experience includes handling matters related to the False Claims Act (with an emphasis on representing financial institutions, defense contractors and health care providers) as well as matters involving DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations, antitrust matters, ITAR, criminal and civil environmental investigations and litigation, class action securities fraud litigation, derivative and corporate governance breach of fiduciary duty matters, and multi-state attorney general investigations involving cybersecurity breaches. Matt’s combination of civil and criminal experience is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America , in which he is listed in the 2015-2024 editions, including for Criminal Defense: White-Collar and Qui Tam False Claims Act/whistleblower matters.
Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Matt served as a federal prosecutor for more than seven years. During his tenure with the government, he served as both the Supervisory AUSA for the Headquarters Office of the Central District of Illinois and was the Lead Prosecutor for the LOGCAP Working Group-a group that prosecuted warzone corruption matters related to the multibillion-dollar LOGCAP III and IV prime contracts awarded to private contractors to provide logistical support to the U.S. Army in relation to the military conflicts in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. The LOGCAP Working Group had numerous prosecutions and investigations involving bribes, kickbacks, Major Fraud Act, and civil False Claims Act matters, including qui tams. The False Claims Act matters that he handled with the government involved allegations of inflated billing, false certifications, and pricing manipulation. In addition, Matt was lead trial counsel for numerous federal jury trials, including multi-week long fraud trials.
While with the government, Matt was also one of the attorneys who handled an FCPA case involving a subsidiary of a global food-processing and commodities-trading corporation, wherein the total amount of criminal and regulatory penalties paid exceeded $54 million. As a federal prosecutor, Matt supervised public corruption cases and health care fraud cases in addition to handling prosecutions and investigations in the areas of procurement fraud, wire and mail fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, FCPA, ITAR, Clean Water Act environmental matters, and other white collar matters.
Prior to working as a federal prosecutor, Matt was an associate and then partner in litigation for another large Chicago law firm. While there, he handled a wide-range of civil and criminal matters. His work included assisting with internal corporate investigations, defending DOJ and SEC investigations, defending 10b-5 securities class actions, and handling litigation matters in the following areas: civil, criminal, commercial business, antitrust, sports, civil rights, class actions, securities fraud, RICO, copyright and health care.
Concentrations
•Litigation - civil and criminal
•Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
•False Claims Act and qui tam defense
•White collar criminal defense
•Environmental
•Antitrust
•Securities fraud
•Corporate governance litigation and private company shareholder litigation, including derivative and breach of fiduciary duty actions
•Department of Defense procurement fraud and government contracting
•Government litigation
•Internal investigations
•Class action litigation
•Commercial litigation
•Public corruption
•Global Energy & Infrastructure
•Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) & Global Anti-Corruption
Recognition & Leadership
Awards & Accolades
•Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Illinois Super Lawyers, 2021-2025
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in America
•Criminal Defense: White-Collar; 2015-2026
•Qui Tam Law, 2015-2020 and 2024-2026
•Listed, Leading Lawyers Network, Commercial Litigation; Criminal Defense: White Collar Law, 2015-2025
•Listed, Thomson-Reuters, 'Stand-Out Lawyers,' 2025
•Team Member, a Law360 'Environmental Practice Group of the Year,' 2022
•Listed, The Legal 500 United States
•Dispute Resolution - Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates, 2020-2021
•Dispute Resolution - Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Individuals, 2020-2021
