Government Enforcement Defense
Former Prosecutors to Aggressively Defend you from the Government. Our trial lawyers have extensive experience aggressively defending clients in high-profile cases against the government. We work toward anticipating the government's tactics because we have been government officials. Our trial lawyers include five former federal prosecutors, including former members of the U.S. Department of Justice's Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force, a former Chief of the Criminal Division and a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Three of our trial attorneys are also former Manhattan Assistant District Attorneys with extensive experience in state matters.
Financial Services Industry Expertise. We focus much of our work on the financial services industry and have developed a deep reservoir of experience on substantive issues in securities, commodities, futures, and other financial sectors. We have teams of analysts devoted to specific financial product areas.
Our attorneys are also experienced in dealing with a wide range of governmental and regulatory agencies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC"), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), the National Association of Securities Dealers ("NASD"), the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB"), the Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC"), the Federal Reserve Bank, and various divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York State Attorney General's Office, among others. In addition, in conjunction with correspondent counsel, we have also defended clients against various foreign regulators, including the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority ("FSA") and the Korean Financial Supervisory Service ("FSS"), and others.
Experience Dealing With High-Profile, Media Cases. Most of our engagements involve highly-publicized and intensely contentious matters in which our client is the subject of significant public attention. Where appropriate, we work closely with professional public relations firms to provide the client with an integrated defense on both legal and reputational fronts.
Recent representations include:
- Representation of Brian Hunter, the former Head of Energy Trading at Amaranth Advisors LLC, a fund that once had $9 billion under management, in connection with actions by the CFTC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"), a pre-emptive suit against the FERC for over-reaching the limits of its jurisdiction, and in the defense of several class and private civil suits.
- Representation of a former Senior Vice Chairman of the AIG in connection with the highly-publicized investigations of AIG by the U.S. Department of Justice, the New York State Attorney General's Office, and the Securities & Exchange Commission, as well as in several securities class and derivative actions in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York and Delaware Chancery Court alleging violations relating to accounting issues and insurance product marketing practices.
- Representation of a company in the airline industry in connection with the well-known U.S. Department of Justice and European Union antitrust authorities' investigation into alleged price-fixing in the airline industry.
- Representation of a Wall Street investment bank in connection with an industry-wide Securities & Exchange Commission investigation into fixed income securities trading practices.
- Representation of a former partner at KPMG in connection with the highly-publicized U.S. Department of Justice prosecution of alleged fraudulent design and marketing of tax shelter products involving more than $2 billion of disputed tax liabilities.
- Representation of a former Cabinet Minister of the Russian Federation in connection with criminal investigations by the Russian Government into alleged financial improprieties.
- Representation of a former United Nations Ambassador from Bosnia in connection with a prosecution by the Bosnian Government for alleged official corruption, and associated international extradition proceedings.
- Representation of Tongsun Park, a well-known international lobbyist in connection with a prosecution arising out of the United Nations "Oil for Food" investigations.
- Representation of a former Chief Executive Officer of a multi-billion dollar Russian oil company in connection with criminal investigations by the Russian Government into complex international asset transfers.
- Representation of a Chief Operating Officer of a large public company in connection with U.S. Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission investigations into alleged "options backdating."
- Representation of the General Counsel of a public high technology company in connection with an investigation into Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) issues.
- Representation of the former Chief Financial Officer of a large public company in investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Securities & Exchange Commission, as well as in several securities class and derivative actions in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York alleging regulatory violations from "options backdating" issues.
Our trial lawyers have represented clients against the government in virtually every high-profile matter that has passed across The Wall Street Journal in recent years. Some of the high-profile government investigation and enforcement matters in which we have represented clients include:
- AB Watley (insider trading)
- ABN AMRO (banking regulations)
- Airline surcharges (antitrust)
- Banc of America Securities (market timing and late trading)
- Bear Stearns (insider trading in connection with collapse of subprime funds)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (accounting fraud)
- Cablevision (accounting fraud and options backdating)
- Carbon brushes (antitrust)
- Cardinal Health (accounting fraud)
- Chiquita Bananas (payments to foreign paramilitary groups)
- Collins & Aikman (accounting fraud)
- Comverse Technologies (options back-dating)
- Congressman Duke Cunningham (public corruption)
- DHB Industries (accounting fraud)
- Enron (accounting fraud)
- HealthSouth (accounting fraud)
- Impath (accounting fraud)
- Krispy Kreme (accounting fraud)
- Marsh McLennan (insurance bid-rigging)
- Martha Stewart (securities fraud)
- Monster Worldwide (options backdating)
- Novartis (Medicare fraud)
- Pequot Capital Management (insider trading)
- Quest (health care fraud)
- Refco (accounting fraud)
- Royal Ahold NV (accounting fraud)
- Rubber chemicals (antitrust)
- Scudder-Kemper Funds (market timing)
- Serono (Prescription Drug Marketing Act violations)
- Symbol Technologies (accounting fraud)
- Tyco International (embezzlement)
- WorldCom (accounting fraud)
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