Avi Perry, a distinguished former federal prosecutor, is a high-stakes trial lawyer, co-Chair of the Firm’s Securities Litigation Group, and co-Chair of the Firm’s Commodities and Derivatives Group. Mr. Perry also is a member of the Firm’s Investigations, Government Enforcement and White Collar Criminal Defense Group.
Mr. Perry’s practice focuses on defending companies and individuals under investigation by federal and state law enforcement authorities and regulators across the United States, counseling financial services businesses, funds, and trading firms on U.S. securities and commodities laws, and providing advice on the design and implementation of effective corporate compliance programs.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Perry served for nine years as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, most recently as Chief of the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. In that role, Mr. Perry supervised 45 white collar prosecutors nationwide and oversaw all of the Fraud Section’s corporate and individual investigations and prosecutions involving securities, commodities, digital assets, and government procurement fraud.
Mr. Perry is a nationally recognized leader in securities, commodities, and derivatives law. Mr. Perry built the Fraud Section’s criminal commodities and derivatives enforcement program, spearheading prosecutions involving spoofing in the futures markets, benchmark price manipulation, cross-market manipulation, and the first-ever commodities insider trading charges under Rule 180.1 of the Commodity Exchange Act. Mr. Perry also oversaw some of the Department’s most significant securities matters, including short-selling investigations and the first prosecution of insider trading under a Rule 10b5-1 executive trading plan.
At the Department, Mr. Perry successfully prosecuted 12 bankers at global financial institutions, including the high-profile trial convictions of seven Managing Directors and Executive Directors at JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley. He also led seven corporate resolutions with banks and trading firms totaling over $1.5 billion in fines, forfeiture, and restitution, and he oversaw three independent compliance monitorships. Mr. Perry has significant experience with the design, implementation, and testing of effective corporate compliance programs, including the use of trade surveillance software and data analytics to identify irregularities.
Mr. Perry served as a member of the Deputy Attorney General’s Corporate Crime Advisory Group and helped to draft the 2022 revisions to the Department’s Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies and the 2023 revisions to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy.
Mr. Perry speaks regularly at conference on white collar matters, including digital assets, derivatives, and enforcement trends. He has served as adjunct faculty at Yale Law School and the University of Maine Law School. Prior to joining the Department, he worked as an associate at a law firm in New York and clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the Honorable Mark L. Wolf, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
- Serving as trial counsel for New York City Mayor Eric Adams in connection with federal bribery and campaign finance charges (United States v. Adams).
- Serving as trial counsel for the co-CEO of a technology services firm who was charged by DOJ with allegedly bribing a four-star Navy Admiral (United States v. Burke, et al.).
- Represented Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and former CEO of Binance, in DOJ Bank Secrecy Act prosecution; also representing Mr. Zhao in SEC enforcement action (SEC v. Binance Holdings Ltd., et al.), related civil litigation nationwide, and state regulatory actions.
- Represented cryptocurrency investment fund manager in DOJ fraud and money laundering prosecution (United States v. Caruso).
- Representing foreign exchange (forex) trading simulator and its CEO in CFTC enforcement action (CFTC v. Traders Global Group Inc., et al.).
- Representing centralized cryptocurrency exchange and its CEO in connection with non-public CFTC investigation.
- Representing FinTech platform in connection with DOJ and SEC non-public securities fraud investigation.
- Represented former public company CEO in connection with SEC non-public accounting fraud investigation.
- Obtained declination for subject of DOJ and SEC insider trading investigation.
- Negotiated global settlement with securities regulators in 25 U.S. states on behalf of Gold Standard Bank and its Chairman in connection with alleged digital asset securities offerings; under the settlement terms, the state regulators agreed to withdraw all fraud charges and impose no monetary penalties.
- Representing quantitative trading firm in connection with non-public exchange rule violation investigations.
- Represented Special Counsel Robert Hur in connection with congressional testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
- Represented CEO of financial advisory and investment banking firm in connection with congressional testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
- Blockchain and Digital Asset Practice
- Government & Regulatory Litigation
- Hedge Fund Litigation
- Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice
- Investment Advisor & Asset Manager Litigation
- Investment Fund Litigation
- Middle East & North Africa Practice
- Private Equity Fund Litigation
- Securities Litigation
- Securities Enforcement Defense Practice
- Structured Finance & Derivatives Litigation
- Commodities and Derivatives
- Yale Law School
(J.D., 2010) - Yale College
(B.A., History, cum laude, 2005)
- New York
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Hebrew
- U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section
- Chief, Market Integrity & Major Frauds (MIMF) Unit (formerly Securities & Financial Fraud Unit), 2021-2023
- Principal Assistant Chief, 2020-2021
- Assistant Chief, 2019-2020
- Trial Attorney, 2018-2019
- Yale Law School
- Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law, 2016-2018
- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, Financial Fraud & Public Corruption Unit, 2014-2018
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Litigation Associate, 2012-2014
- University of Maine Law School
- Adjunct Professor of Law, 2012
- Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Kermit V. Lipez
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2011-2012
- Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Mark L. Wolf
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2010-2011
- Legal 500 USA Dispute Resolution: Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Recommended Lawyers (2024)
- Attorney General’s award for innovation in using data to prosecute crime (2022)
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Inspector-in-Charge Award (2021)
- CFTC Chairman’s Award for Regulatory Excellence (2020)
Recent Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, Swaps and Derivatives and Market Enforcement, PLI Enforcement 2023: Perspectives from Government Agencies, May 2023
- Panelist, Trials, New York City Bar White Collar Crime Institute, May 2023
- Panelist, Compliance Roundtable, Global Digital Asset and Cryptocurrency Association, May 2023
- Panelist, Enforcement Techniques and Tools, SEC Southeastern Securities Conference, Apr. 2023
- Panelist, Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency Enforcement, ABA White Collar Crime Institute, Mar. 2023
- Panelist, Enforcement Developments, ABA Futures and Derivatives Law Committee, Annual Meeting, Feb. 2023
- Panelist, Enforcement Trends, Futures and Derivatives Law Report Symposium, Nov. 2022
- Panelist, Charging and Defending Individuals in White Collar Cases, PLI White Collar Crime 2022: Prosecutors and Regulators Speak, Sept. 2022
- Panelist, Update on White Collar and Regulatory Issues for the Business Lawyer, ABA Business Law Section, Annual Meeting, Sept. 2022
- Panelist, Economic Crimes, Federal Bar Association, Criminal Law Section, Annual Federal Sentencing Guidelines Seminar, Aug. 2022
- Panelist, Swaps and Derivatives and Market Enforcement, PLI Enforcement 2022: Perspectives from Government Agencies, May 2022
- Panelist, Parallel Investigations, Joint U.K.-U.S. Symposium on White Collar Enforcement, Apr. 2022
- Panelist, Assessing Effective Compliance, NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, Mar. 2022
- Panelist, Securities Litigation and Regulatory Practice, Atlanta Bar Association, Dec. 2021
- Panelist, Commodities Enforcement, ABA White Collar Crime Institute, Oct. 2021
Publications
- Insider Trading and Corporate Enforcement: Important Trends and Implications for Corporate Governance,” Oct. 24, 2024, Featured In: Chambers and Partners, White-Collar Crime 2024 (William Burck, Avi Perry, Christopher Clore, Joanna Menillo
- Note, “Solving Israel’s African Refugee Crisis,” 51 VA. J. INT’L L. 157 (2010)
- “Restructuring Insurance Coverage for Drunk Drivers,” 4 HARV. L. & POL’Y REV. 427 (2010)
- “In Support of a Referendum on the Golan Heights,” 58 UCLA L. REV. DISC. 1 (2010)
- Comment, “Rethinking the Adequacy of Informal Property Rules: Some Evidence from Maine’s Lobster Fishery,” 15 OCEAN AND COASTAL L.J. 85 (2010)
- “Administrative Statutory Interpretation in the Antebellum Republic,” 2009 MICH. ST. L. REV. 7 (2009) (with Jerry L. Mashaw)