Legal News

Hogan Partner to Take Over EDNY; Madoff Judge to 2nd Circuit

By Amir Efrati

The good folks at Main Justice have been hard at work keeping their readers abreast of judicial and U.S. attorney nominations. Today we took notice of two confirmations that are hot off the Senate floor.

According to Main Justice, Hogan & Hartson’s Loretta Lynch (pictured)was confirmed to become the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn. She replaces Benton Campbell, who’s been there since 2007. It’s been nearly a year since New York Senator Chuck Schumer first recommended Lynch to President Obama.

Also of note: the Senate approved the promotion of Denny Chin, a U.S. district judge in Manhattan, to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. In arguably the most popular decision he’s made as a judge, Chin handed down a 150-year prison sentence to Bernard Madoff. He also has presided over the ongoing high-profile Google Books litigation.

Lynch, who has been working on white collar criminal defense and corporate compliance issues at Hogan, will be resuming a U.S. attorney post in Brooklyn that she held from 1999 to 2001.

Lynch (Harvard College ‘81 and Harvard Law ‘84) was an associate at Cahill Gordon from 1984 to 1990.

As readers of this blog know well, the Eastern District of New York in recent years has been among the most active offices probing whether individuals and companies involved in the economic crisis committed any fraud.

Among the subjects of EDNY probes: the valuation of mortgage securities at UBS , lending practices and securities disclosures by American Home Mortgage, once the 10th largest lender; disclosures by executives at American International Group, the giant insurer, regarding credit-default swaps that nearly caused its collapse; and disclosures by executives at Lehman Brothers before the collapse of the Wall Street firm.

The office hasn’t brought charges from those investigations.

In one high-profile defeat, the EDNY criminally charged two former Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers for allegedly lying to their investors before their mortgage-related funds collapsed, but a jury acquitted them after a trial last fall.

For a high-profile victory, check out EDNY’s prosecution of two former Credit Suisse brokers — one of whom became a temporary fugitive — for offenses related to the sale of mortgage securities.

EDNY also continues to be an important counter-terrorism hub, as seen in a recent case brought against individuals who planned to bomb the New York City subway system.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).