Financial Services

Legislative Advocacy

• Launching and organizing several financial services trade associations, guiding them through their formative stages, and establishing ongoing working relationships with key members of Congress and regulators.
• Advising and advocating on behalf of a major financial market infrastructure utility on numerous matters, throughout the development of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) on issues related to swap data repositories (Title VII) and financial market utilities (Title VIII).
• Assisting a trade association of wholesale market brokers in developing overall legislative and regulatory strategies, and assisting in responding to legislative inquiries and drafting legislative testimony related to issues such as over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives regulatory reform, derivatives trade execution, financial market regulatory oversight, and systemic risk oversight.
• Providing technology company focused on cognitive computing and holistic surveillance with strategic counsel encouraging policymakers to modernize regulatory surveillance requirements in line with current technological capabilities.

Regulatory Advocacy

• Secured no-action letter relief for a coalition of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) from the CFTC for a Dodd-Frank Act requirement related to the clearing of interest rate swaps.
• Secured no-action letter relief on behalf of the Wholesale Markets Brokers Association Americas, for a series of Dodd-Frank Act regulations promulgated by the CFTC related to swap execution facility trading of swaps and compliance with statutory core principle obligations.
• Advocated on behalf of an association representing the interests of institutional investors for specific changes to CFTC swap execution facility regulations and swap trading rules in response to the publication of a white paper by a commissioner.
• Advocated on behalf of an association representing the interests of institutional foreign exchange market participants before the CFTC and the SEC regarding proposed rules limiting institutional investors' use of derivatives, including foreign exchange derivatives contracts.
• Advocated on behalf of an association of financial guaranty insurers and reinsurers before the CFTC and SEC regarding proposed definitional rules relating to "swaps," "swap dealers," and "major swap participants" and coordination of international swap regulation and cross border issues.
• Advocated on behalf of a US-based cryptocurrency exchange on the issue of what constitutes "actual delivery" in the digital currency context under CFTC rules.

Legal Compliance

• Advised financial services firm on its last look disclosure.
• Advised and represented a commodity pool advisor that services the hedge fund industry with respect to SEC, CFTC, and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regulatory requirements and inquiries.
• Represented and counseled a foreign-based foreign exchange dealer with respect to CFTC regulatory requirements.
• Represented and counseled a London-based broker-dealer with respect to CFTC regulatory requirements, including the CFTC part 30 rules governing foreign brokers.
• Counseled foreign financial institutions on swap reporting and other CFTC requirements.
• Counseled market intermediaries on compliance with CFTC regulatory requirements relating to retail commodity transactions.
• Counseled commodity trading advisors and commodity pool operators on registration, reporting, recordkeeping and other CFTC and SEC regulatory requirements.
• Counseled and trained clients on derivatives and cash market trading compliance.
• Assisted clients in preparing internal compliance policies and procedures governing futures, swaps, and cash market trading, reporting, and recordkeeping.

Investigations and Enforcement

• Representation of global financial institution in CFTC investigation of disruptive trading.
• Representation of major digital asset platform in CFTC investigation.
• Representation of global futures brokerage firms in investigation by CFTC and Chicago Mercantile Exchange concerning meeting net capital requirements.
• Representation of insurance company in SEC investigation of trading practices.
• Represented proprietary trading firm in parallel investigations of alleged market manipulation.
• Representation of financial institutions in investigations of swap reporting.
• Representation of many different energy traders and entities in CFTC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and Department of Justice investigations of power, natural gas, crude oil, propane, heating oil, and gasoline trading activity. 
• Representation of an institution in CFTC investigations of precious metals trading involving retail commodities transactions.
• Representation of many different traders and entities in CFTC investigations of cash market and derivatives trading in financial products, agricultural commodities, metals, and currencies.
• Representation of foreign commercial end-users in CFTC investigations of alleged cash market reporting violations.
• Representation of foreign traders in CFTC investigations of trading on US exchanges.
• Representation of clients in many different investigations conducted by the CME Group, the Intercontinental Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the National Futures Association, and other self-regulatory organizations and in proceedings before their business conduct committees and hearing panels.
• Representation of a foreign financial institution in an investigation relating to compliance with CFTC swap regulations.

Litigation

• Defending major financial institution against claims arising from servicing of mortgage pools totaling in excess of $4 billion.
• Representing former head of a business unit of a publicly traded company in securities class actions in New York alleging financial misrepresentations and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
• Representing a major financial institution in pay-to-play investigations and related litigation arising from pension investments by governmental agencies.
• Representing Hudson's Bay Company in shareholder litigation in New York over its acquisition of Saks Fifth Avenue.
• Secured complete defense award for global financial institution against $100 million claim by hedge fund.
• Represented proprietary trading firm against putative class action filed after enforcement action by CFTC.
• Successfully resolved claims against Royal Bank of Canada’s Capital Markets unit in federal court litigation over the scope of plaintiff’s sale to RBC of a book of quarterly rankings for financial institutions and their debt offerings.
• Represented publicly traded technology company and senior executives in arbitration defending claims for securities fraud and breach of fiduciary duty brought in connection with a significant acquisition.
• Won a motion to dismiss all claims against one of the United States' largest poultry producers in a putative securities class action lawsuit.
• Won a motion to dismiss all claims against a US-listed, Australia- and London-based Fortune Global 500 mining company in a putative securities class action.
• Obtained dismissal of securities class action claims against largest investor in public company asserting failure to disclose fully both the nature of the investor's interests and his preferred position over other investors.
• Obtaining for a financial services firm an injunction that enjoined its former customer from pursuing CFTC administrative proceedings in lieu of arbitration representation of energy producer in investigation of renewable identification numbers (RIN) trading.
• Representation of the Futures Industry Association as an amicus curiae in a US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit appeal in a bankruptcy proceeding of a failed futures commission merchant.