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
On July 3, 2025, the firm and attorneys Alexandra Shapiro and Jason Driscoll were named to Law360’s list of “Legal Lions of the Week,” along with the other members of Mr. Combs’s star-studded defense team, led by Marc Agnifilo. According to the publication, we “make this week’s list after a Manhattan federal jury on Wednesday … Read more
On July 2, 2025, Shapiro Arato Bach was part of a “dream team” of several lawyers that obtained acquittals for Sean Combs on the three most serious charges against him following a high-profile, two-month criminal trial before Judge Arun Subramanian in the Southern District of New York. Shapiro Arato Bach successfully defended Combs against the … Read more
Shapiro Arato Bach is pleased to announce the promotions of Julian S. Brod to partner and Alice Buttrick to counsel. Julian and Alice are experienced litigators, representing institutional clients and individuals at the trial and appellate levels in complex commercial disputes, intellectual property litigation, and white-collar criminal matters. Julian S. Brod | Partner Julian is a trial and … Read more