2 More Financial Fraud Prosecutors – Lev Dassin And Luis R. Mejia – Go To Private Practice

It’s no doubt at least partly attributable to the change in administration in Washington. But we think the major reason we’re now seeing such tremendous movement from the prosecutorial ranks to the white collar defense bar is because law firms – and their corporate clients – are gearing up for a “battle royale” with federal (and state) prosecutors. 

Here are the two latest changes:
 
Lev Dassin, the former Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York who previously served as Deputy United States Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office, is joining Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a partner.
 
Dassin served as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for approximately eight months, until the confirmation of his successor in mid-August 2009. In that capacity, he was responsible for all criminal and civil litigation on behalf of the United States in the district and supervised more than 220 Assistant U.S. Attorneys. He oversaw a number of high profile matters spanning complex financial and securities fraud and civil cases, including the prosecutions of Bernard Madoff and Marc Dreier.
 
With the addition of Dassin, Clearly now has nine litigation partners who have served as Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
 
Luis R. Mejia, Chief Litigation Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, is joining the law firm of DLA Piper as a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. At the SEC, as Chief Litigation Counsel since 2005, Mejia led the SEC’s nationwide litigation program, involving a broad range of financial fraud, insider trading, hedge funds, and market manipulation cases. During Mejia's tenure, the SEC trial unit won 80 percent of the Commission's trials in federal district courts nationwide, including:
·                     2009 jury verdict in the SEC's favor against Steven E. Nothern, a former manager of mutual funds. Nothern was found liable for insider trading of U.S. Treasury 30 year bonds.
·                     2009 jury verdict in the SEC's favor on all charges against Charles C. Conaway, the former CEO of Kmart Corporation. Conaway was charged with misleading investors about Kmart's financial condition in the months preceding the company's bankruptcy.
·                     2008 jury verdict in the SEC's favor against Jamie L. Solow, a former registered representative. The jury found that Solow violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC's complaint charged that Solow engaged in a fraudulent trading scheme involving inverse floating rate collateralized mortgage obligations.
·                     2006 jury verdict against James E. Koenig, the former CFO of Waste Management, Inc. The jury found Koenig liable for securities fraud, falsifying company books and records, lying to auditors, and aiding and abetting the company's violations.
·                     2005 jury verdict in the SEC's favor against Paul Johnson, a former securities analyst. The jury found Johnson liable for issuing false and misleading research reports about three companies that he covered.
Prior to his appointment as the SEC's Chief Litigation Counsel, Mejia was an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel and prosecuted a number of significant enforcement cases. In 2002, he was the lead trial counsel in the SEC's successful jury trial against Scott K. Ginsburg, the former chairman and CEO of Evergreen Media Corporation. The jury found Ginsburg liable for insider trading and he was ordered to pay a $1 million civil penalty. Mejia was also the lead litigation counsel for the Commission in all Enron matters and helped recover more than $400 million for aggrieved investors.