Joel M. Cohen

Mr. Cohen has achieved significant victories pretrial and at trial in many high-profile matters, including:

Obtaining an extraordinary outcome in USA v. Morgan, where DOJ caved to settle what originally was an alleged $500 million fraud they contended was among the largest in recent history, dismissing virtually all criminal and civil allegations against client, real estate developer, Robert Morgan. Mr. Cohen's team uncovered evidence of government malfeasance that led government to settle to avoid an embarrassing hearing examining prosecution and FBI team. This followed an earlier extremely rare dismissal of indictment against client and his business, and the settlement of related SEC allegations in SEC v. Morgan (WDNY 2020), with no admission of fault or financial penalties.

The government dismissed virtually all of its allegations, agreed investors and lenders suffered no financial losses, and only a $2000 fine was ordered. The American Lawyer, featuring Mr. Cohen and his team, noted that the extremely rare dismissal was built on a meticulous unraveling of government missteps and that it is "often unsexy work that leads to sexy results in white-collar defense work."

In awarding him The Am Law Litigator of the Week in July 2022 they noted the Court's comments at sentencing to Mr. Morgan , "You are fortunate that you have excellent, excellent attorneys representing you." "I don't think I have to tell you that. But they did a tremendous job in advocating for you. And, at the end of the day, I think the resolution here is a fair one."

Winning a jury trial in the closely watched Securities and Exchange Commission v. Obus insider trading matter on behalf of Wynnefield Capital and Nelson Obus, its chief portfolio manager after a 12 year battle with the SEC. The American Lawyer named Mr. Cohen as one of its Litigators of the Week after the victory and he later was featured in The American Lawyer's 2016 award of "White Collar/Regulatory Law Firm of the Year." Noting that his client was "in awe" of his trial and cross examination skills, The American Lawyer linked the trial victory with the SEC's decision days after the defense verdict to avoid jury trials and seek administrative actions in the future.

Obtaining summary judgment for Citi in a class action seeking more than $13 billion in damages for its alleged role in the Parmalat collapse.

Winning a jury trial for AllianceBernstein in which the Florida state pension fund attempted to recover $3.2 billion in losses sustained in Enron and other stocks, and successfully defending the same client in other significant Enron-related litigation, one of which resulted in an award of attorney's fees and costs for his client.

Additional representative matters include:

• Robert Morgan, charged in a $500 million criminal indictment, forfeiture claims, and a related SEC action alleging bank, insurance and investment fraud.*
• Representing Zoom Video Communications Inc. in multiple DOJ investigations and SEC investigation involving securities fraud and foreign influence allegations (EDNY, NDCA, Main Justice).*
• Represented cryptocurrency trading firms in two different DOJ/SDNY investigations, avoiding all charges for clients.*
• Advised two private equity firms in separate Delaware and New York civil proceedings relating to disputes over investment and board government issues.*
• Representing key figure in OneCoin cryptocurrency criminal matter (SDNY).*
• Representing a public precision instrument company in a DOJ antitrust division investigation.
• Representing the Supervisory Board of AllianzSE in a resolved (2022) DOJ and SEC asset management matter in SDNY involving over $6b in alleged losses.*
• Major U.S. bank: Representation of Major U.S. bank in European criminal tax proceeding.*
• Major U.S. bank: Representation of Major U.S. bank in Brazilian/U.S. investigation.*
• Major European Insurance/Asset Management Company: Representation of Major European Insurance/Asset Management Company in global cross-border tax matter.*
• Major European bank: Representation of Major European bank in U.K. Serious Fraud and DOJ matter.*
• Och-Ziff: Represented Och-Ziff, the publicly-traded asset management firm, in connection with DOJ and SEC investigations relating to investment activity in Africa and elsewhere. After five-year investigations, successfully negotiated settlements allowing for deferred prosecution for parent entity, in one of the most-closely followed FCPA matters in years because of its impact on the investment and asset management sectors.*
• Nelson Obus and Wynnefield Capital: Achieved trial victory and exoneration for Nelson Obus and Wynnefield Capital, a prominent hedge fund, in one of the longest fought insider trading cases in history. Nelson v. Obus.*
• CEO of major public U.S. Alternative Energy Company: Represented the CEO of major U.S. Alternative Energy Company in connection with DOJ and SEC investigations and over thirty securities and employment cases.*
• Major U.S. telecom company: Successfully resolved two separate SEC investigations involving alleged securities bond market activity and data security breaches, both ending with no charges.*
• Fortune 100 Major Public Wireless and Broadband Company: Prevailed in civil action against major Mexican television and cable company in New York Supreme Court (Manhattan), recovering over $50 Million for client after expedited proceedings.*
• European bank: Representing the Global Head of Treasury in DOJ LIBOR investigation.*
• European bank: Represented senior management and employees of a European bank in a large U.S. economic sanctions investigation.*
• Swiss banks: Acted as independent examiner for several Swiss banks in connection with the DOJ's "Tax Non-Prosecution Program."*
• European bank: Multi-billion dollar DOJ FIRREA mortgage fraud investigation.*
• Moody's: Successfully defended Moody's in two matters concerning its ratings of structured investments. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank v. Moody's et al.*
• Duke Energy: Represented Duke Energy legacy board of director members in connection with outstanding derivative and class action litigations and a resolved regulatory matter arising from the Duke-Progress corporate merger. North Carolina Utilities Commission/Duke Energy.*
• UBS, Citi and Lazard: Successfully defended UBS, Citi and Lazard in a class action (and related SEC inquiry) alleging violation of federal securities laws in the underwriting of the $165 million IPO for SinoTech, a Chinese issuer delisted from NASDAQ following allegations that SinoTech was a shell operation. Athale v. Sinotech.*
• Allianz SE: Obtained a rare declination to prosecute from the Department of Justice and highly favorable SEC settlement on a cease-and-desist basis, in which both agencies were convinced not to proceed on an aggressive "private equity liability" theory relating to FCPA-related issues. SEC v. Allianz SE.*
• Major Global Oil and Gas Service Company: Represented client involving reviews in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, resulting in no charges brought anywhere globally.*
• Private equity and investment management funds: Represented several private equity and investment management funds in connection with SEC and Department of Justice FCPA-related investigations.*
• AllianceOne: Acted as monitor counsel for AllianceOne in connection with a three year DOJ and SEC FCPA-related monitorship. United States v. Alliance One.*
• Fortune 100 companies: Represented several Fortune 100 companies in global regulatory investigations relating to corporate fraud, corruption/FCPA issues, sanctions issues and insider trading concerns.*
• Major accounting firm: Represented a major accounting firm, convincing the SEC not to bring charges for alleged violations of the auditor independence rules.*
• Wall Street general counsel: Represented a Wall Street general counsel, convincing the SEC to decline to bring insider trading charges.*
• Former head of CDO trading: Represented the former head of CDO trading at a top global bank in connection with several related criminal and regulatory and civil litigations in which no charges were brought against client. SEC v. Stoker.*
• Multiple financial institutions: Represented multiple financial institutions in designing crisis management and global anticorruption programs.*
• Audit and special committees: Represented many audit and special committees of public companies and private company boards of directors in connection with allegations of wrongdoing.*

*Matters prior to joining White & Case