Dan Koffmann represents companies and senior executives in sensitive matters involving government investigations, corporate crises, internal investigations, criminal indictments, and other significant business, legal, and reputational challenges. He advises clients on a broad range of litigation and compliance issues, including alleged corruption, securities fraud and insider trading, sanctions and export control violations, tax evasion, accounting fraud, the False Claims Act, money laundering, and civil and criminal forfeiture proceedings. He also brings affirmative claims against government regulators and agencies when statutes, regulations, and other government actions infringe on clients’ rights. Dan’s practice is global, and the majority of his matters involve defending foreign individuals and organizations facing scrutiny from U.S. prosecutors and regulators. He has represented clients and conducted investigations in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and he is particularly active in Latin America and the Indian Subcontinent.
Dan is an accomplished trial and appellate advocate. He has tried numerous federal criminal cases to verdict and has briefed and argued appeals in several federal Courts of Appeals and New York’s First Department. Most of Dan’s work, however, is out of the public eye, assisting clients in avoiding indictment or other media scrutiny altogether. He regularly persuades prosecutors, regulators, and other adversaries to decline prosecution or enter into negotiated resolutions on favorable terms. In recognition of his achievements, legal periodicals including Law360, Legal 500, and others have identified Dan as a rising star of the white collar bar.
Selected Recent Public Matters
- Lead trial counsel to Javier Aguilar, a former Vitol oil trader, in defending against Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering charges.
- Lead counsel to X Corp. (formerly Twitter) in investigations relating to representations regarding data privacy and information security practices.
- Appellate counsel to Clare Bronfman, a prominent supporter of the NXIVM self-improvement courses, in seeking to overturn the nearly seven-year prison sentence she received following her guilty plea to immigration and identity theft offenses.
- Lead counsel to Dr. Adam Rosendorff, who served as the laboratory director of Theranos during the company’s commercial launch.
- Counsel to Amarex Clinical Research in connection with allegations that its founder and former CEO committed securities fraud.
- Counsel to Mark Nordlicht, founder of the Platinum Partners hedge fund, in obtaining a new trial after his conviction on securities fraud charges.
- Trial counsel to Bill Taylor, former President and COO of biologics company MiMedx, in securities and accounting fraud trial.
- Counsel to FBME Bank in bringing claims under the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act against the U.S. Treasury Department’s designation of FBME as a “financial institution of primary money laundering concern” under Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act. Obtained the first-ever preliminary injunction against the U.S. Treasury Department in this type of proceeding.
- Counsel to Johan von der Goltz, who was charged with tax fraud in the only U.S. indictment arising out of the Panama Papers disclosures.
- Counsel to J&F Investimentos, the Brazilian holding company that owns JBS, the world’s largest meat-processing company, and several other international businesses, in negotiating settlement with U.S. prosecutors and the SEC resolving FCPA charges.
- Counsel to Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction conglomerate, in negotiating settlement with U.S., Brazilian, and Swiss prosecutors in what the U.S. Justice Department described as the “largest-ever global foreign bribery resolution.”
- Counsel to AIG in False Claims Act litigation relating to two former life insurance subsidiaries. Obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims in multiple federal and state proceedings. Also represented AIG in a federal lawsuit alleging constitutional violations by the New York Department of Financial Services arising out of the DFS’s efforts to institute enforcement proceedings regarding the same alleged conduct.
- Trial and appellate counsel to Maureen McDonnell, the former First Lady of Virginia, in defending against allegations of corruption, bank fraud, and obstruction of justice. Obtained judgment of acquittal from the trial court on obstruction charge and dismissal of all other charges following unanimous reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Selected Recent Non-Public Matters
- Lead counsel to a hedge fund manager in a federal criminal sanctions and export control investigation.
- Lead counsel to president of commercial loan brokerage in federal investigations regarding suspected misrepresentation to and fraud on federal agencies.
- Lead counsel to former executive of social media company in connection with federal criminal investigations into illegal drugs sales on social media platforms.
- Lead counsel to a Fortune 50 big-box store in a False Claims Act case.
- Lead counsel to a hedge fund manager accused of campaign finance violations. Obtained pretrial dismissal of all claims.
- Counsel to a senior executive of a semiconductor company in connection with federal criminal investigation of illegal exports to blacklisted Chinese companies.
- Counsel to a high-profile anti-human trafficking activist in a wire fraud investigation. After a year-long investigation, the Department of Justice declined to bring any charges at all.
- Counsel to a live theater touring business in a criminal antitrust investigation.
- Counsel to a cryptocurrency investor in a wire fraud and money laundering investigation.
- Counsel to the general counsel of an energy company in a corruption investigation.
- Counsel to a multinational industrial group in a congressional investigation into contributions to the Presidential Inauguration Committee.
- Counsel to a two million-member national labor union and its largest local affiliate in state and federal bribery and campaign finance investigations regarding contributions to the Mayor of New York City and other New York Democrats.
- Counsel to the former CEO of a Brazilian food company in multiple corruption investigations.
- New York University School of Law
(J.D., cum laude) - Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
(B.S. in Economics, concentrations in Finance and Accounting)
- The State Bar of New York
- The State Bar of California
- United States Courts of Appeals:
- Second Circuit
- Fourth Circuit
- Ninth Circuit
- United States District Courts:
- Southern District of New York
- Eastern District of New York
- Central District of California
- Northern District of California
- Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer for Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense (Corporates and Individuals), 2024
- Lawdragon 500 “Next Generation” Criminal Investigations, White Collar, 2023 and 2024
- Law360 “Rising Stars” White Collar, 2023
Publications
- “Dealing with ‘Diaz’: How Defendants Can Combat and Use Expert Testimony Regarding Group Mental State” (New York Law Journal, September 2024)
- “Officially Unofficial: Who Qualifies as a ‘Foreign Official’ Under the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act?” (New York Law Journal, July 2024)
- “Lead Article: The Government’s Aggressive Enforcement of Export Control Laws is Quickly Becoming a Thorn in the Side of Companies Engaged in International Commerce.” (Business Litigation Reports, 2023)
- “What’s Next After the Remarkable Decision Setting Aside Guilty Verdicts In The FIFA Prosecution.” (New York Law Journal, September 2023)
- “United States v. Hoskins: Reshaping the Agency Theory of Corporate Criminal Liability” (Reuters, September 2022)
- Firm Memorandum: Who You Gonna Call? Considerations for Retaining Outside Counsel to Conduct an Internal Investigation (August 2022)
- Firm Memorandum: Key Takeaways from Cognizant Technology’s Improbable Receipt of a Declination from DOJ (February 2019)
- Firm Memorandum: DOJ Announces Change to Guidelines Regarding Corporate Cooperation (October 2018)
- “Representing Individuals in Interviews: The US Perspective,” in The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (Global Investigations Review 2017)
- “Internal Investigations and Criminal Discovery After the Yates Memo,” April 5, 2016, The FCPA Report, Vol. 5, No. 7
Lectures and Panels
- “Crisis Communications: The Court of Public Opinion,” International Cannabis Bar Association Litigation Symposium (Mar. 20, 2023)
- “A Material Development: How Blaszczak II Changes the Insider Trading Landscape,” Webinar (Feb. 2, 2023)
- Panelist, “Do ‘bad’ clients deserve ‘good’ lawyers?,” International Bar Association Annual Conference (Nov. 3, 2022)
- International Bar Association
- Federal Bar Council
- New York City Bar Association