In his white collar and regulatory practice, Jeffrey defends businesses, executives and other individuals in criminal prosecutions, government investigations and contested enforcement proceedings. He advises banks, boards of directors and senior management on regulatory inquiries and internal investigations. His experience includes matters before the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve and New York State Department of Financial Services.

Jeffrey represents owners and third-party claimants seeking to protect property from government seizure and forfeiture, as well as victims of fraud and theft pursuing recovery and restitution. His experience spans civil, criminal and administrative forfeiture, civil money laundering actions and related litigation, often involving assets and proceedings in multiple jurisdictions. He has secured the release of a client’s cryptocurrency frozen by the U.S. government and represents a major U.S. regulated cryptocurrency exchange in asset recovery matters involving domestic and foreign jurisdictions. He has also testified as an expert on U.S. asset forfeiture law in foreign recovery proceedings.

Selected representations include:

• Serving as lead trial counsel for a former bank CEO in a 29-day federal criminal jury trial in a case in which all 27 charges were withdrawn, dismissed or resolved by acquittal
• Serving as lead trial counsel in a civil enforcement action brought by a federal banking regulator in which the client paid nothing and the regulator agreed to pay the client over $1.5 million
• Representing a bitcoin mining company asserting a multi-billion-dollar claim in a civil forfeiture proceeding
• Representing a claimant who successfully sought the return of over $40 million in seized securities in a criminal forfeiture proceeding
• Representing a cryptocurrency business pursuing asset recovery and restitution in connection with an alleged $25 million theft and the related federal criminal prosecution.

Before joining Pryor Cashman in 2013, Jeffrey spent six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, including several years in its Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit. For his outstanding work as a federal prosecutor, Jeffrey was awarded both the Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award and the National Asset Forfeiture Award.