Criminal Defense & Regulatory Matters

Representative matters:

  • Ongoing representation of a former Credit Suisse investment banker based in London who has pled guilty in the Eastern District of New York to a wire fraud conspiracy arising out of the so-called Mozambique tuna bond scandal. 

  • Represented former LSU Men’s Basketball Associate Head Coach, Bill Armstrong, in successful defense of NCAA recruiting violation charges.   Following extensive briefing and a three-day hearing, an independent panel of fact-finders cleared client of all charges.

  • Together with colleague Larry Krantz, ongoing representation of the former Chief of Corruption of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in his defense to federal obstruction of justice charges, including serving as second chair over a five-week jury trial in the Eastern District of New York.

  • Successfully negotiated vacatur of client’s narcotics conviction in Bronx Criminal Court and substitution of disorderly conduct plea, allowing client to exit ICE custody and avoid imminent deportation.

  • Managed legal aspects of defense of former senior executive at Westar Energy in high profile federal criminal case dubbed the “Enron of Kansas,” including all legal arguments in court — all counts of conviction reversed by Tenth Circuit on the basis of legal argument raised at trial in reliance on relatively obscure Supreme Court wire fraud decision.

  • Led Hughes Hubbard’s three year pro bono partnership with The Legal Aid Society resulting in the vacateur of Vanessa Gathers’ manslaughter conviction.  Following negotiations with the late Kings County District Attorney, Kenneth Thompson, and with his then-Chief Assistant, now the current District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez, the District Attorney’s Office moved to vacate in February 2016, resulting in the client’s exoneration.

  • Member of the state court defense team which obtained a full acquittal in the so-called “Deutsche Bank fire” case — represented the site safety manager charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office with manslaughter and other lesser crimes after two firemen perished in a fire during the abatement and demolition of a downtown Manhattan office building.

  • Litigated several issues (including to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals) concerning the Justice Department’s efforts, based on an indictment’s forfeiture claims, to obtain a pretrial restraint on a client’s indemnification and advancement rights.

  • Member of the defense team which obtained the “extraordinary” relief of a new trial based on newly discovered evidence in the Southern District of New York when evidence emerged that the alleged indicted coconspirator was insane at the time of the alleged conspiracy;  among other factors, his out-of-court statements would no longer be admissible at a retrial.   United States v. Brodwin, 292 F. Supp. 2d 484 (S.D.N.Y. 2003).

  • Second-chair in six week federal jury trial in the Eastern District of New York, representing a principal in a precious metals company tried for insurance fraud on Lloyd’s of London relating to the theft of gold inventory.  

  • Developed sovereign immunity argument and briefed the same which was believed to have influenced federal prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute the client, a foreign bank implicated in reporting violations. 

  • Represented a former senior mutual fund sales executive in parallel SEC and NYS Attorney General investigations into alleged market timing and other alleged unlawful activity;  no charges brought.

  • Represented the engagement partner of a Big Four accounting firm in connection with an SEC accounting fraud investigation; no charges brought.