White Collar Criminal and Regulatory Defense
Our partners include a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and a former federal public defender for the Southern District of New York. We vigorously defend individuals and corporations at all stages of criminal and regulatory investigations. Our lawyers specializing in this area have successfully defended clients at the investigatory stage, at trial, and on appeal. We can help clients avoid indictment or regulatory charges, and also have the trial experience to aggressively defend our clients in court if necessary. The firm also has extensive experience handling sensitive, complex cross-border matters: we represent foreign nationals facing U.S. criminal investigations and prosecutions as well as SEC enforcement actions, and in some cases, parallel foreign proceedings.
We also have extensive experience conducting internal investigations for public companies and their audit committees, as well as other institutions. We have successfully represented entities and individuals before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and other federal, state, and self-regulatory bodies. We also counsel clients on compliance matters in a wide range of substantive areas.
Chambers and Partners has recognized the firm and ranked partners Jonathan Bach and Alexandra Shapiro in the category, “Litigation: White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations.”
Some recent notable representations include:
- Represented former New York State Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos at retrial in the Southern District of New York.
- Represented Chinese businessman accused of federal corruption offenses in the Southern District of New York in connection with efforts to build a real estate project in Macao for the United Nations at trial.
- Represented executive in connection with federal investigation of transactions involving alleged counterfeit electronic parts sold for use by military contractors.
- Represented individuals in several recent grand jury and SEC insider trading investigations.
- Represented former Lehman Brothers executive in connection with investigations by bankruptcy trustee, SEC, and depositions in related civil litigation.
- Independent Consultant retained by NYSE Euronext pursuant to SEC Order, to conduct a comprehensive review of the market data delivery systems, and the policies, procedures and practices regarding compliance with Rule 603(a) of Regulation NMS of NYSE’s securities exchanges to ensure that the systems comply with Rule 603(a).
- Conducted internal investigation on behalf of Audit Committee of publicly-traded financial institution into whistleblower allegations of financial impropriety and provided recommendations for enhancing internal controls.
- Achieved significant victories for clients challenging their convictions in several high-profile white collar appeals before the Second Circuit (see Appellate Advocacy practice description).