Practices
Attorneys
News
About Us
Careers
As reported on Monday, May 5th in the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets, federal authorities, responding to the subprime mortgage crisis, have formed a “subprime” task force. The task force is comprised of fifteen different federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and will be directed by prosecutors in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. That office is perhaps best known in the securities arena for its past investigations involving Symbol Technologies, Inc. and Computer Associates International, Inc. and the follow-on criminal cases that it brought against members of senior management at both those companies. As we explain below, Heller Ehrman, whose senior New York lawyers include two former chiefs of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District, is uniquely qualified to represent companies and individuals who become involved in these investigations and proceedings.
Large federal, state and local task force groups, like this one, are formed to amplify and better coordinate investigative activities of diverse law enforcement agencies in areas of common concern. Members of the task force have already launched a number of investigations within the mortgage banking, banking, investment banking and securities industries. The goal of the coordinated task force effort is to determine whether lenders or Wall Street firms were involved in fraud or other illegal activities in connection with subprime lending or securitizations.
The implications for financial institutions, including mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, investment banks, securities firms, and accountants, of this kind of massive, coordinated law enforcement effort is considerable and far-reaching. The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York has announced that the group will focus on potential crimes ranging from bank fraud, to securities fraud and accounting fraud. Principal areas of interest will include the activities of mortgage lenders, possible misstatements in securities filings and questionable accounting practices. The task force will also look into whether mortgage applications were falsified and loan portfolios overvalued when they were sold to banks or Wall Street firms before being packaged into securities and sold to the investing public.
Two senior litigation partners at Heller Ehrman’s New York office who specialize in white collar defense and securities work, Vic Rocco and Larry Zweifach, are former Assistant United States Attorneys in the Eastern District of New York where they both served as Chief of the Criminal Division. Since leaving their government service, both have handled the defense of investigations and prosecutions brought by the Eastern District office. Vic is the current chair of Heller’s litigation group in New York, and the former President of the New York Counsel of Defense Lawyers, a leading organization of criminal defense lawyers. Larry is the former chair of litigation at Heller’s New York office. Both Vic and Larry have extensive experience representing companies and individuals in criminal, securities, mail and bank fraud cases and are members of the firm’s Subprime/Mortgage –Backed Securities Industry Group. Heller’s subprime team includes lawyers who bring a multidisciplinary approach to the subprime/mortgage-back securities industry crisis and have a long and successful record representing clients in the transactional, regulatory, litigation, insurance and insolvency issues that already are emerging in the mortgage-backed securities “MBS” sector.
Because of their past senior positions in the United States Attorney’s office in the Eastern District, Larry and Vic are uniquely able to handle the defense of investigations and prosecutions brought by that office. Our white collar criminal defense team in New York, and throughout the firm, has extensive experience handling the full range of issues covered by the criminal code on behalf of a U.S. and international client base of employees, chief executive officers, professional firms and corporations from a variety of industries. In particular, our white collar lawyers have extensive experience in defending securities, mail, bank and consumer fraud cases as well as accountant liability cases.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the Heller Ehrman attorney with whom you regularly work, or the attorneys listed below:
Victor J. Rocco | +1 (212) 847-8795
victor.rocco@hellerehrman.com
 |
Click here to download a printable version of this client alert. |
