Lee Bentley

Lee Bentley recently joined the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult & Cummings, LLP (“Bradley”), as a partner in the firm’s Tampa, Florida office.  Lee will be working with NAFUSA’s current membership chair and past president, Jack Selden, in Bradley’s Government Enforcement and Investigations practice group.

Lee served as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida for approximately four years.  His service as Interim, and then Acting, United States Attorney began in June 2013.  Subsequently, in June 2014, he was nominated for the position by President Obama, upon the recommendation of both Florida’s Democratic and Republican Senator.  Lee’s nomination was confirmed by a unanimous United States Senate on December 16, 2014.  He resigned as United States Attorney on March 10, 2017.

As United States Attorney, Lee oversaw approximately 125 attorneys, with offices in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, and Ocala.  The Middle District of Florida is the second-most populous judicial district in the country, and covers 35 of Florida’s 67 counties.

Throughout Lee’s tenure, the Middle District of Florida consistently ranked in the top three in the nation in the number of criminal trials.  Among other things, Lee oversaw the successful prosecution of a publicly-traded Fortune 500 managed care company and five of its top executives for their role in reporting inflated expenditures in order to increase Medicaid reimbursements.  Moreover, Lee supervised the successful investigation and indictment of a sitting Congresswoman, as well as the investigation immediately following the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

One of Lee’s priorities as United States Attorney was to increase recoveries under the False Claims Act.  The Middle District of Florida often led the nation in the number of qui tam or whistleblower lawsuits filed, and during the last fiscal year of Lee’s tenure, the office collected over $800 million in False Claims Act settlements.  Among other things, the office reached what was then the largest settlement ever under the federal Stark Law and also reached a $350 million settlement with a durable medical equipment company.

Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Lee served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida for approximately 13 years, which included stints as both the Criminal Chief and the First Assistant United States Attorney.  As an Assistant United States Attorney, Lee tried approximately 40 federal criminal trials to verdict.

Lee also previously served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida (Miami).

In addition to federal service, Lee was a partner at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), where he practiced in the firm’s Washington, DC office for over 10 years.  At that firm, Lee secured a summary judgment in a major contractual dispute with potential exposure to the client of over $250 million.  He also successful tried several civil cases, including a patent infringement case in which he secured a judgment of approximately $20 million.

Lee was a judicial clerk for Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., at the United States Supreme Court, and for Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr., on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Prior to that, Lee graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a notes editor on the Law review and Order of the Coif.  

At Bradley, Lee will be focused primarily on white collar criminal defense, the defense of False Claims Act cases, and internal investigations.