About

Tom has defended public companies and individuals in regulatory actions involving insider trading, market manipulation, financial fraud, corporate governance matters, accounting and auditing issues, FCPA issues, and similar matters. He has also defended securities class action and derivative suits and led teams conducting internal investigations focused on financial fraud and other securities law issues. He regularly speaks on, and publishes articles regarding, securities litigation issues including the FCPA, internal investigations, financial fraud and insider trading. He has been interviewed on these issues by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, and other leading publications in addition to appearing on CNBC, CNN, and other TV networks. Tom publishes a widely-read securities blog, www.secactions.com, which analyzes trends in securities enforcement inquiries and litigation, and provides expert commentary for the LEXIS Securities web page. He serves as a member of the editorial board of the Securities Regulation Law Journal.

Tom’s practice also regularly includes other complex business litigation matters arising under the securities, commodities, antitrust laws and the federal racketeering statutes, examples of which include: Minpeco, S.A. v. Hunt in which he and a team of attorneys obtained a $197.1 million treble-damage verdict on behalf of a Peruvian governmental entity after a six-month jury trial against the Hunt brothers and others (the jury found that the defendants had engaged in price fixing, monopolization, and manipulation activities in the world silver markets in violation of the antitrust, commodity, and racketeering laws); defense of a large German multinational that resulted in a government-to-government agreement creating a reparations fund for U.S. citizens interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II; defense of the Republic of Peru in 54 actions in five countries involving over $6 billion in commercial bank debt; representation of the Central Bank of Nicaragua regarding its commercial bank debt disputes; securing a $25 million verdict after a five-month jury trial in a case based on international business transactions; and the successful defense of a large real estate company in a three-month jury trial in an antitrust action.

Government Service

Tom served for seven years in positions of increasing responsibility on the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Those positions included Senior Counsel, Division of Enforcement and Special Trial Counsel, Office of the General Counsel. In those positions, Tom was responsible for the investigation and litigation of securities enforcement actions, accounting and auditing cases and defending suits brought against the Commission and its staff. Before joining the staff of the SEC, Tom also served for two years on the staff of the Public Defender’s Office in Cleveland, Ohio and as an adjunct professor of law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University.