Howard R. Elisofon, Partner

Represent a senior trader of a financial institution in a FINRA investigation alleging market manipulation.

Represent a broker in a FINRA investigation into improperly soliciting investments away from the firm.

Defend a broker and registered wealth manager in parallel fraud investigations conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, the SEC and FINRA.

Represents major international broker dealer in connection with DOJ and SEC investigations, and federal criminal trial against founder of publicly traded company for, inter alia, creating false earnings to inflate the price of the company’s stock.

Representation of institutional trader who was victimized in a Ponzi Scheme in order to recover assets that were defalcated.

Representing a stock promoter in wide-ranging investigations by the Department of Justice and the SEC of securities fraud in the promotion and potential manipulation of the stocks of various start-up companies. 

We represent a number of victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. In January of 2009, we filed notices of claim with the Securities & Exchange Commission alleging negligence under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The SEC rejected our claims six months later, and on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, we filed the historic and first known lawsuit against the SEC seeking monetary damages under the FTCA, Molchatsky and Schneider v. United States. We were lead counsel on the Molchatsky case and filed two additional cases against the United States on behalf of other Madoff victims. While the Second Circuit ultimately dismissed the action, essentially saying that the SEC had absolute immunity, the case sent a message that Herrick will leave no stone unturned on behalf of its clients. This work led to favorable tax relief legislation for Ponzi scheme victims as well as a complete overhaul of SEC staff policies and procedures.

Representation of more than 275 securities brokers of a number of national retail brokerage firms in proceedings before the NY State insurance department on issues concerning annuity exchanges (regulation 60 violations). We were successful in convincing the department to drop approximately 90% of the cases with no formal action and received favorable settlements in the case of the other 10% of the other advisors.

Represented a terminated broker in a FINRA investigation related to discretionary trading, and a negotiated departure from his firm.

Representing multiple clients in FINRA proceedings to expunge reportable events from the Central Registration Depository

Successfully represented a broker in a FINRA investigation into selling away activities; FINRA closed the investigation with no action taken.

Representing a securities trader in a Department of Justice criminal action and a related SEC civil action where our client is charged with participating in an insider trading scheme in which the securities of public companies were sold short in advance of secondary offerings, allegedly based upon material, non-public information. In the criminal case, our client recently received a sentence of Probation.

Successfully represented a hedge fund manager and his fund in an SEC insider trading investigation involving a US-based, multinational technology company and the alleged intentional manipulation of securities prices through the creation and spreading of false information.  The investigation concluded with the issuance of a no-action letter from the SEC. 

Represented a veteran financial advisor in a FINRA investigation into customer claims that the client recommended unsuitable investments and maintained an overly concentrated account resulting in millions of dollars in damages.  FINRA closed the investigation with no action taken against our client. 

Represented the U.S. affiliate of a billion-dollar inter-dealer French brokerage firm in a large "key employee raiding case" brought by a competitor whose stock market valuation declined 24% (approximately $450 million) on the day following our client’s hire of approximately 20 of its credit derivatives brokers and employees. Following an intense oral argument by Herrick and other firms aligned with our client, a New York Supreme Court denied the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order and later denied a motion for preliminary injunction in rulings which allowed the subject employees to work for our client. The dispute then moved to a FINRA arbitration where we defended hundreds of millions of dollars in claims. After more than 240 hearing sessions, the matter was fully settled and all claims withdrawn.

Herrick successfully represented a business executive in parallel criminal and civil insider trading investigations conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the SEC, in connection with allegations that our client and four other defendants used illegal tips to trade in the stock of a company prior to it being taken private in a multibillion dollar deal. Herrick was able to resolve the SEC claims with a favorable settlement which involved no admission of wrongdoing, and obtained no prosecution with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Herrick successfully defended a midmarket investment bank and brokerage in a FINRA arbitration initiated by a former Managing Director who alleged that our client had wrongly denied him commissions on deals in which he claimed to have been involved. The parties ultimately entered into binding mediation where virtually all claims against our client were dismissed and the matter was resolved with a minimal settlement that was a small fraction of the amount initially claimed.

Herrick successfully represented a financial services firm and key executives in a joint SEC and US Attorney's insider trading investigation related to the purchase of shares in multiple pharmaceutical companies, both domestic and foreign, prior to announcements of multibillion dollar mergers. The investigation concluded with no action taken against our clients.

Representation of a business executive in an SEC civil securities fraud matter alleging participation in a pump-and-dump scheme involving two penny stocks.

Representation of a national broker dealer in an arbitration claiming fraud and misrepresentation in the sale of private placements.

Representation of a registered senior broker in a FINRA investigation into possible selling-away activities.

Successfully negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of a broker-dealer in a sales practice investigation initiated by FINRA concerning allegations that the firm made false and/or misleading representations to customers in connection with the sale of certain mortgage backed securities.

Representation of a regional broker dealer in a claim asserted by a former research analyst alleging that the firm wrongfully withheld certain bonus and other transactional compensation. 

Representation of a registered representative of a major broker dealer in a FINRA investigation into mismarking of trade tickets and unsuitable trading. After successfully filing a Wells submission, the matter was ultimately dropped and the client received no formal discipline.