On April 9, 2026, Shapiro Arato Bach’s Alexandra Shapiro argued Sean Combs’s high-profile criminal appeal before a panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Combs’s appeal followed a two-month trial in the Southern District of New York resulting in acquittals on the two sex trafficking counts and one … Read more
On April 2, 2026, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment in favor of Shapiro Arato Bach clients Wayfarer Studios LLC, Justin Baldoni, and their co-defendants on ten of thirteen claims asserted by actress Blake Lively arising out of the production and promotion of the film It … Read more
SAB appeared before Judge Lewis Liman and argued for summary judgment in favor of Justin Baldoni and his co-defendants, in the lawsuit brought by Blake Lively. SAB challenged the factual and legal sufficiency of Ms. Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation claims, addressing, among other things, how standards should be applied in the context of making … Read more
On December 23, 2025, Shapiro Arato Bach filed the opening brief for Sean Combs’s criminal appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, challenging his sentence and two convictions under the Mann Act for transportation to engage in prostitution. The brief argues that Combs’s 50-month sentence violated the sentencing guidelines, the Fifth … Read more
On October 27, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the convictions of Neil Cole, the founder and former CEO of Iconix Brand Group, a trademark licensing company. The government had alleged that Cole artificially inflated Iconix’s reported revenue through secret side deals in which Iconix’s business partner agreed to … Read more
Partner Alexandra Shapiro was recently profiled in a Bloomberg article highlighting her career and recent successes and high-profile representations. The article discusses Alexandra’s work in the criminal trial of Sean Combs and recent appellate victories overturning two wire fraud convictions, and quotes a prominent New York lawyer who describes her as having the “premier criminal … Read more
On August 29, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the 144-month sentence of our client Mathew James along with a forfeiture order of $63,382,049.02 and a restitution order of $336,966,416.85. Mr. James was the owner of a medical billing business who was charged and convicted in a scheme to … Read more
On July 31, 2025, in a second wire fraud victory for the firm this month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the wire fraud and related money laundering convictions of Nathaniel Chastain, the former head of Product at OpenSea, an online marketplace for buying and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The … Read more
On July 17, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the denial of client Mark Johnson’s Petition for a writ of coram nobis and remanded the case with instructions that the district court grant the Petition, effectively clearing his name. Our client, the former head of foreign exchange at HSBC, … Read more
On July 14, 2025, Law360 published an article by partner Fabien M. Thayamballi entitled “State Law Challenges in Enforcing Arbitration Clauses.” According to Fabien: “Businesses that prefer to arbitrate their disputes with customers, employees and other contracting parties must increasingly pay attention to developments in state law that affect the enforceability of arbitration agreements. Battles … Read more