In Brief

Since our founding in 1968, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP has focused on the trial and litigation of complex commercial and criminal cases. Chaired by Gary P. Naftalis, one of the country’s leading trial lawyers, our White Collar Defense and SEC Regulatory practice is among the most prominent in the nation. Institutions and individuals confronting all phases of criminal matters—from investigation through trial and on appeal—turn to the firm’s White Collar Defense team for its trial expertise and legal acumen. In addition, we have extensive experience in counseling clients on preventive measures, such as corporate compliance programs, and in conducting internal investigations. Our clients draw on the counsel of a team that includes former senior federal and state prosecutors, trial lawyers from the Federal Defender’s Office, counsel for Congressional committees and fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Principal Areas of Focus

Our cases involve every substantive aspect of white collar criminal and regulatory work affecting U.S. and foreign business entities and individuals, including securities, commodities and accounting frauds; banking, money laundering and other financial wrongdoing; federal and state criminal tax investigations; health care and medical fraud; criminal antitrust; public corruption; labor racketeering; and criminal environmental violations.

We regularly represent issuers, broker-dealers, investment advisors and professionals in SEC, CFTC, NYSE, AMEX and NASD proceedings and have broad experience in defending clients in other federal and state administrative enforcement proceedings, as well as in Congressional inquiries.

Well before the SEC’s recent focus, we actively defended companies and their officers, directors and outside professionals in proceedings alleging “earnings management” or other accounting fraud and are involved in many of the government’s recent investigations concerning alleged accounting irregularities. We have significant representations in governmental inquiries relating to, among other issuers, senior officers or directors of Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom, Tyco, Rite Aid, Cendant, Bristol-Myers Squibb, ImClone, Oxford Health Plans and Micro Warehouse. We are actively involved in many of the current investigations relating to option grant and dating
practices at public companies, representing issuers, executives and special committees.

We frequently conduct independent internal investigations of corporate conduct and have acted on behalf of audit committees and other special committees investigating accounting fraud and other alleged wrongdoing. Most recently, we have been involved in special investigations or independent committees relating to Cardinal Health, AIG and WebMD.

Other Representative Clients/Cases

Additional representative matters which reflect the diversity of our clients and cases include:

• We have successfully represented numerous securities industry clients, including Canary Capital Partners in the New York State Attorney General’s mutual fund industry investigation, Salomon Brothers in the federal criminal and SEC investigations of U.S. Treasury auction bidding practices, and Kidder Peabody in connection with the Wall Street insider trading scandal. In each instance, we persuaded the government not to bring criminal charges.
• We are defending the Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly against criminal charges relating to his use of expense vouchers.
• We are representing a specialist in SEC and NYSE investigations relating to the top specialist firms.
• We successfully represented a high-ranking investment banker from a major broker dealer firm in the SEC’s Orange County investigation, whom the Commission determined not to charge with any wrongdoing.
• We persuaded the government not to charge an investment banker at another major firm in connection with the federal criminal investigation of “yield burning” in the municipal bond industry.
• We also represented institutions and individuals in the investigations of Drexel Burnham, including Drexel customers and a high-ranking former Drexel executive, none of whom was ultimately charged by the government.
• We successfully defended the General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer of The Southland Corporation against criminal proxy fraud charges, and a First Jersey Securities broker in a case alleging perjury and obstruction of justice.
• We persuaded the government not to charge an investment advisor in connection with the Connecticut Treasurer’s Office corruption investigation.
• We represented the chief trader of D.H. Blair in the New York County District Attorney’s investigation into its practices.
• We also represent the chief trader of an international metal dealer in CFTC proceedings alleging manipulation of the world copper markets with Sumitomo Corporation.
• We currently represent clients in SEC or criminal investigations involving allegations of insider trading, accounting irregularities, market manipulation, stock “parking,” and microcap fraud.
• We represented the owner of a 1933 Double Eagle gold coin, believed to be the rarest and most valuable coin in the world, that the United States government claimed was stolen governmental property and successfully persuaded the government to dismiss criminal charges. We then achieved a landmark settlement in the civil forfeiture proceeding under which the coin was auctioned and the proceeds divided between our client and the government.
• In other recent matters, we successfully defended a prominent Saudi Arabian banker in connection with state criminal charges and in proceedings before the Federal Reserve Board, relating to the disposition of his interest in the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, as well as in complex RICO litigation brought by liquidators of BCCI seeking $10 billion in damages. All U.S. civil, criminal and regulatory charges were dismissed.
• We represented E. Robert Wallach, a San Francisco attorney and counsel to former Attorney General Edwin Meese, in a lengthy federal criminal trial arising out of the Wedtech government contracting scandal. The charges against Mr. Wallach were subsequently dropped.
• We have also been engaged in the representation of attorneys, accountants and other professionals in criminal and regulatory investigations, securities litigation and related matters; licensed professionals before the New York State Office of Professional Discipline; labor union officials, employers and others in grand jury and administrative labor proceedings; and companies, individuals and government officials in government contract matters; as well as the trial and appellate defense of government officials in the New York City Parking Violations Bureau and Ill Wind scandals.