Edward Imperatore is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). He represents companies, financial institutions, boards, and executives in internal and government investigations and parallel regulatory and civil litigation. He is experienced in all aspects of white collar crime and allegations of financial malfeasance, including securities and commodities fraud, accounting fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, BSA/AML violations, sanctions evasion, corporate fraud, digital currency crime, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He has represented numerous corporate and individual clients before the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, OCC, FDIC, FINRA, Federal Reserve Board, and OFAC, as well as state attorneys general.

Edward is frequently recognized by leading industry publications such as Chambers USA where he is ranked as an Up and Coming lawyer in the Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations – New York category, where he is noted to be “smart, hard-working and sophisticated in his factual and legal analysis.” He is also recommended by The Legal 500 US for Dispute Resolution: Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense, where he is described as “one of the most experienced FCPA and securities prosecutors to come out of the government.”

During his tenure in the SDNY, Edward was a senior member of the Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force and also handled FCPA matters, including three of the largest-ever FCPA criminal resolutions. He is an accomplished trial attorney who tried more than a dozen jury trials to verdict as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Among his trials were 10 complex, multi-week white collar trials, including six trials in the SDNY’s Securities Fraud Unit, all of which resulted in convictions. He also argued 11 appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Edward is a recipient of the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award.

Edward is frequently published and quoted by financial publications and media outlets on white collar and securities law developments including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law360, New York Law Journal, and Law.com, among others. He is also a member of the Federal Bar Council, Federal Criminal Practice Committee, and the New York City Bar, White Collar Crime Committee.

Prior to joining Morrison Foerster and the SDNY, Edward served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan on the U.S. District Court for the SDNY and was a litigation associate at two prominent New York law firms.

Edward graduated magna cum laude in the top one percent of his class from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a senior editor of the Georgetown Law Journal and elected to the Order of the Coif. Edward earned his B.A. magna cum laude with distinction in History from Amherst College.

Representative Experience

Defense

Corporate Representations

• McKinsey & Company and McKinsey & Company Africa in a global resolution of FCPA charges arising from allegations of bribery in South Africa, with a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and a parallel criminal resolution with the South Africa National Prosecuting Authority.
• A technology company in a multi-agency federal criminal investigation involving allegations of illegal gratuities, which included advising the company on remedial actions related to internal controls. The DOJ and SEC took no action against our client.
• Global financial institutions in DOJ and regulatory investigations of allegations of BSA/AML violations and sanctions evasion.
• Global financial institutions in internal investigations of financial and compliance irregularities and related remediation.
• A company conducting an internal investigation into alleged tax and accounting issues, which included counseling the audit committee of the board of directors on matters of corporate governance, including internal controls over financial reporting.
• A multinational, publicly traded global Fortune 500 company before DOJ, SEC, and a multilateral organization in investigations of allegations of foreign bribery and corruption. DOJ and SEC took no action against our client.
• An artificial intelligence company in an SDNY securities and accounting fraud investigation. The SDNY took no action against our client.
• A fintech company in an SDNY criminal investigation of BSA/AML violations. The SDNY took no action against our client.

Individual Representations

• Senior executives of a public company in a DOJ and SEC accounting fraud investigation. DOJ and SEC took no action against our clients.
• A senior executive of a public company in a DOJ and SEC insider trading investigation. DOJ and SEC took no action against our client.
• A former executive of a global investment bank charged by DOJ with alleged FCPA and money laundering offenses arising from financing transaction in Africa and Europe.
• A senior executive of a national bank in multiple investigations by federal and state regulators and law enforcement, including SEC, DOJ, FDIC, and FINRA, and in civil class-action lawsuits alleging violations of the federal securities laws.

Government Experience

Corporate and FCPA Investigations

• A $900 million criminal resolution with a major automotive manufacturer to resolve charges relating to an ignition switch defect.
• Three of the 10 largest FCPA criminal resolutions, resulting in nearly $3 billion in penalties, including the then-largest FCPA criminal penalty.
• FCPA prosecution of an Uzbekistan official for receiving bribes of $865 million, the largest bribe ever charged against an individual FCPA defendant.

White Collar Investigations and Trials

• One-month accounting fraud trial during the COVID-19 pandemic against the CEO and COO of a public biomedical company for fraudulently inflating revenue.
• Three-week accounting fraud trial against the CFO of a prominent public real estate investment trust for manipulating non-GAAP earnings metrics.
• One-month securities and investment advisor fraud trial against a film producer for a complex scheme involving a New York hedge fund.
• Two-week insider trading and securities offering fraud trial against an investment fund owner.
• Two-week insider trading trial against a Wall Street analyst.
• Six-week securities fraud trial against a law partner for a $2 billion accounting fraud scheme at Refco, a former New York broker of commodities and futures contracts.
• Three-week Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations Act trial against a payday lender for a $220 million fraud.
• Investigation of a prominent antivirus software founder for securities and commodities fraud offenses arising from false and misleading cryptocurrency promotions.