Jeffrey Alberts

Jeffrey Alberts is a member of the White Collar + Regulatory Enforcement Practice. He represents clients in government investigations, prosecutions and related regulatory proceedings, asset forfeiture litigation, victims’ rights representation, and complex civil litigation. Jeffrey is an experienced trial lawyer who has served as lead counsel in numerous civil and criminal trials.

Jeffrey has a reputation as a forceful advocate. His notable criminal representations include the defense of the former CEO of a bank in a 29-day criminal trial in federal court. After a hard-fought legal battle, all 27 charges against this client were dismissed. Another example of Jeffrey’s advocacy involved an enforcement action brought by a federal banking regulator in which Jeffrey served as lead trial counsel. After a trial that included aggressive cross-examinations of FDIC examiners, fact witnesses, and expert witnesses, the client was vindicated, paid no penalty, and the bank regulator agreed to pay over $1.5 million to Jeffrey’s client to resolve the matter.

Before joining Pryor Cashman in 2013, Jeffrey spent six years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where he led grand jury investigations and prosecuted a wide variety of white-collar criminal offenses. His cases included money laundering, bank fraud, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud and civil and criminal asset-forfeiture actions.

While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jeffrey played an instrumental role in several high-profile cases, including asset forfeiture proceedings involving proceeds of the securities fraud that Marc Dreier executed using the law firm Dreier LLP, the fraud scheme at the financial services company Refco, Inc., and the securities fraud committed by Samuel Israel at the hedge fund known as the Bayou Funds. He also received international recognition for successfully litigating an asset forfeiture jury trial concerning stolen artwork created by the renowned artist Camille Pissarro and returning the artwork to the French Government.

For his work as a federal prosecutor, Jeffrey received the John Marshall Award, the U.S. Department of Justice’s highest honor for legal excellence. He also received the Department of Justice National Asset Forfeiture Award for his role in the forfeiture of over $500 million in proceeds of the fraud at Refco, Inc.