STEVEN G. KOBRE

steven.kobre@kobrekim.com

New York:
800 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022
Tel. +1 212 488 1202
Fax. +1 212 488 1222

Hong Kong:
13th Floor, Two Exchange Square
8 Connaught Place
Central, Hong Kong
Tel +852 2127 3282
Fax +852 2127 3280

Steven G. Kobre, a co-founder of the firm, is an experienced trial lawyer who has served as lead counsel in numerous high-value disputes.  Mr. Kobre practices in the area of complex civil litigation, where he focuses on disputes among commercial entities, Fortune 500 companies, and other large institutions.  In addition, he is routinely called upon to represent clients in responding to government investigations on behalf of clients in the United States, Asia, South America and Europe.  He regularly deals with cases involving U.S. government investigations into allegations concerning antitrust, bribery/FCPA, securities, tax, money laundering, IEEPA, and various other laws with international applications. 

Prior to establishing Kobre & Kim LLP, Mr. Kobre served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.  While serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Kobre focused on white-collar criminal cases as a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Mr. Kobre also served in the Asset Forfeiture Unit, where he litigated numerous civil and criminal asset forfeiture cases, and received the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement for Asset Forfeiture awarded by the Attorney General of the United States.

Prior to his time at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Kobre worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office. During his time as an Assistant District Attorney, Mr. Kobre prosecuted a wide range of cases, including financial fraud and other white-collar offenses.

After law school, Mr. Kobre clerked for the Honorable Lowell A. Reed, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Recent Engagements:

Financial Products & Services Litigation:

• Representation of an institutional client in connection with a dispute of breaches of representations and warranties in PSA and MLPA in a securitization worth over US $1 billion
• Representation of a large regional bank, with respect to potential claims against an investment bank arising out of losses sustained from investment in a cash-flow collateralized debt obligation
• Representation of an investment banking group in connection with a dispute between two international financial institutions involving their respective Collateralized Debt Obligations ("CDO") businesses
• Representation of a private equity firm and a limited liability company in litigation related to the transaction by which those entities acquired a popular collectibles company
• Representation of offshore and domestic hedge funds in assessing litigation strategies designed to recover investment losses sustained as a result of mismarked short positions
• Representation of the widow of Dr. Atkins, and beneficiary of US $600 million+ trust in contest against trustees relating to permissible use of corpus of funds in proceedings in Surrogate's Court of the State of New York and Florida state courts
• Representation of the Trustee of a revocable trust in a dispute pending in the Probate Division of the Circuit Court for Miami Dade County contesting the validity and funding of the formation instrument

Insolvency & Debtor-Creditor Disputes:

• Defense of an investment firm and its founder in a subsequent transfer action brought by the Court-appointed Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC
• Representation of a large foreign bank in a dispute against a Wall Street investment bank arising from the collapse of a US $2 billion credit facility
• Representation of a Fortune 500 company in a multimillion-dollar standby letter of credit dispute against a major commercial bank
• Representation of Deutsche Bank in litigation in a multimillion-dollar dispute with an interdealer broker concerning trades in bankruptcy of "when-issued" stock

Joint Venture & Partnership Disputes:

• Representation of an institutional investor in litigation in the Cayman Islands and the New York courts against other investors relating to a contest for corporate control over joint investments in a utility in South America
• Defense of former major law firm name partner in arbitration brought by former partner
• Representation of a Cayman Islands limited partnership operating in China in exploring possible litigation options designed to prevent loss of corporate control under the terms of a complex financial transaction

Arbitrations:

• Representation of a large multinational company in ICC arbitration regarding a royalty dispute where the amount in controversy exceeded US $100 million
• Arbitrations on behalf of a large U.S. financial institution in matters throughout the United States

Government Enforcement Defense:

• Representation of a Japanese executive in a U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division's investigation of an alleged international cartel in the energy sector
• Representation of a senior executive of a major automotive systems supplier in an antitrust investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission
• Representation of a Japan-based executive of an international financial institution in investigations being conducted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice into allegations of anti-competitive behavior related to derivatives products
• Representation of a Hong Kong citizen in connection with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into alleged insider trading
• Successfully convinced prosecutors and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission not to bring charges against a commodities broker at a large international financial institution
• Representation of a hedge fund manager in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York prosecutions of the Galleon insider trading, the biggest insider trading case involving hedge funds in history
• Representation of a large public company located in Hong Kong in the airline industry in connection with the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust investigation into alleged price-fixing in air cargo surcharges
• Representation of an Asia-Pacific based company in an investigation by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into potential anti-money laundering compliance issues
• Representation of the CEO of a reverse-merged Chinese company in connection with an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into allegations of fraud regarding certain filings made with the agency pursuant to their listing on the NASDAQ Stock Market
• Representation of a client in an investigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice into allegations of money laundering involving hundreds of millions of dollars and claims of asset forfeiture as to an additional US 100 million dollars
• Convinced federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to drop already filed charges against a principal of a consulting firm charged with criminal and civil insider trading
• Representation of a partner of a large law firm in allegations of insider trading by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• Representation of major public utility in shadowing government's asset forfeiture proceedings to ensure adequacy of recovery
• Representation of a partner of a multi-billion dollar hedge fund in a criminal prosecution involving alleged fraudulent conduct
• Managed asset forfeiture proceedings and international investigations conducted in connection with disputed ownership claims over a famous rare coin issued by the United States Mint, eventually auctioned at Sotheby's
• Representation of a corporate executive relating to claims of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice
• Conducted asset forfeiture proceedings involving financial institutions and bank accounts in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and related criminal investigations and prosecutions for money laundering and wire fraud  

Investigations & Monitorships:

• Conducted internal investigation of Wall Street investment bank, in response to inquiry of fixed income securities trading practices worldwide for possible violations of securities laws. Investigation involved review of more than 2 million documents and interviews of dozens of company employees. Advised company in subsequent investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and related Self Regulatory Organizations.
• Representation of a Fortune 500 company in an internal investigation into violations of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Service as a government-appointed integrity monitor of a company servicing New York City. This engagement involves the examination of the company's financial statements, contracts, personnel, and ongoing activities to monitor compliance with local, state, and federal criminal and civil laws.

Offshore Trusts & Asset Forfeiture/Recovery:

• Advisory work to a large public utility and an investment bank on issues relating to asset forfeiture of funds in excess of US $50 million
• Conducted asset tracing and forfeiture proceedings involving money embezzled by an executive at a Swiss financial institution, and use of stolen funds to purchase and improve a large five-star hotel in the United States

Class & Derivative Actions:

• Successful defense of energy drink companies and certain former LLC members and investors in federal court purported class and derivative lawsuit
• Counsel for a large Asian company in a U.S. class action lawsuit filed against multiple global freight forwarders
• Representation of the former Chief Financial Officer of DHB Industries in multiple securities class and derivative actions in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York alleging violations relating to accounting issues
• Representation of the former Chief Financial Officer in class and derivative actions in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and related derivative litigation brought in the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court

Professional & Community Involvement:

• The American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
• Litigation Counsel of America; Trial Lawyer Honorary Society, Fellow
• New York Council of Defense Lawyers, Member
• The Legal Aid Society, Board of Directors
• American Association for Justice, Member
• American Bar Association, Member
• The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Member
• Federal Bar Council, Member
• International Bar Association, Member

News & Publications:

• Panelist, “Enforcement Trends in International FCPA Criminal Investigations and Best Practice in Representing Individuals and Corporate Targets” (New York Council of Defense Lawyers, New York, September 2011)
• Panelist, "An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Credit Crisis: The Overlap of Securities, Bankruptcy & Criminal Law" (New York City Bar Association, New York, July 2009)
• "The SEC's January 2006 Guidelines For the Imposition of Penalties", 20 Corporate Counsel Newsletter 3, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association (American Bar Association Spring (2006))
• "Cooperating with the Investigators and its Impact on Employees", 21 Corporate Counsel Newsletter 1 (American Bar Association Fall (2006))
• Served as a lecturer on civil and criminal asset forfeiture issues in a seminar sponsored by the American Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, May 2007
• Annual lectures on international criminal law topics most recently in Japan and Korea
• Selected to New York Super Lawyers 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011
• Hedge Fund Activism (Hedge Fund General Counsel Summit, Connecticut, September 2007)
• Instructor at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's Intensive Trial Advocacy Program

Education:

• The George Washington University Law School, J.D.
  George Washington Law Review (Senior Notes Editor)
  
• University of Pennsylvania, B.A.

Admissions:

• District of Columbia
• New York
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Hong Kong, Registered Foreign Lawyer