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William Frentzen and Christine Wong Named to Daily Journal’s Top White Collar Attorneys List for 2025

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William Frentzen and Christine Wong earned spots on the Daily Journal’s list of Top White Collar Attorneys for 2025, recognizing...

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<p>William Frentzen and Christine Wong earned spots on the <em>Daily Journal</em>’s list of Top White Collar Attorneys for 2025, recognizing their leadership on today’s most complex investigations and highest-stakes disputes.</p><p>Wil brings nearly 30 years of experience handling trials and litigation stemming from fast-moving, cross-border matters at the intersection of financial regulation and technology. His recent work includes securing the release of American executive Tigran Gambaryan from detention and charges in Nigeria, recovering more than $220 million in stolen digital assets for Euler Labs, protecting proprietary technology and securing a first-of-its-kind evidentiary ruling validating blockchain tracing software, and defending a former public-company CFO in an SEC enforcement action tied to a de-SPAC transaction.</p><p>Christine draws on 25 years of experience as a federal prosecutor and in-house investigations leader to advise clients on sensitive investigations and crisis matters. Her recent matters include steering Hawaiian Telcom to a favorable tentative settlement resolving nearly 800 Maui wildfire lawsuits, guiding Recology through the successful completion of a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, and representing a senior executive in a high-profile SEC enforcement action involving a global cryptocurrency exchange.</p><p>Wil and Christine’s recognition reflects Morrison Foerster’s strength advising clients on complex white collar, enforcement, and compliance challenges around the world.</p><p>Explore the full list of honorees on the <a href="https://www.dailyjournal.com/special_reports" target="_blank"><em>Daily Journal</em>’s website</a>.</p>

<p>William Frentzen and Christine Wong Named to <em>Daily Journal</em>’s Top White Collar Attorneys List for 2025</p>

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<p>William Frentzen, an accomplished trial lawyer who formerly served as chief of the Corporate and Securities Fraud Unit for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California (NDCA), is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Trial and Investigations + White Collar Defense Groups.</p><p>William represents companies and their executives in internal and government investigations, white collar criminal defense matters, and parallel civil litigation related to allegations of corporate fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, intellectual property crimes, crisis response related to cyber breaches, money laundering, healthcare fraud, digital currency crimes, tax crimes, cybercrime, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act violations, and environmental crimes, among others.</p><p>Over the course of his career, William has successfully tried over 40 federal criminal and civil jury trials around the country, including some of the longest and most complex criminal cases in the NDCA. His trial capabilities were recognized through his appointment as senior trial counsel for the NDCA, a position created in acknowledgment of William’s unique ability to try cases. He has never lost a jury trial in which he served as first-chair. William’s trial experience includes securing conviction of a chief financial officer related to accounting and securities fraud charges arising out of the $11 billion sale of a software company, the largest fraud case in the history of the NDCA. He has also achieved several high-profile criminal resolutions, including the first-ever criminal prosecution for violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act against an infamous lobbyist and the conviction of two corrupt federal agents for stealing and extorting digital currency during their investigation of the Silk Road dark market website. He also served as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, where he taught civil trial practice.</p><p>William has represented cryptocurrency platforms and other companies through exploit and cybersecurity attacks and asset recovery, including representing a company through the largest digital asset recovery in decentralized finance history. He also serves as an advisor for the capital fund of Haun Ventures, an investment firm focused on web3 ventures, tokens, and projects related to blockchain technology, digital currency, and crypto assets.</p><p>Before joining MoFo, William spent over 20 years at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he most recently served as chief of the Corporate and Securities Fraud Unit for NDCA. Prior to that he served as chief of the Corporate Fraud Strike Force, as senior trial counsel, and as chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force for that office, and he also developed and supervised the country’s first cryptocurrency crime coordinator position within a U.S. Attorney’s Office. William has also served as an assistant United States attorney (AUSA) in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and the Southern District of Georgia and as associate independent counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel.</p><p>Since joining private practice, William has been recognized by leading industry and business publications, including <em>Financial Times</em>, which named him a “Commended Individual” in the Innovative Lawyers in Cyber Security & Data Protection category of its 2023 North America Innovative Lawyers report. He was recognized for his role in negotiating the return of nearly $200 million in digital assets for Euler, three weeks after these assets were stolen, completing one of the largest recoveries in decentralized finance history. Further, William was named to <em>Daily Journal</em>’s 2024 list of Leading Commercial Litigators relating to the successful handling of multiple civil litigation matters, including a jury trial victory, two granted summary judgment motions, and his work on the Euler matter mentioned above.</p><p>William also received numerous awards for his exceptional trial work at DOJ, including, among others, the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the DOJ Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Criminal AUSA, and the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence, in addition to various other awards and commendations from federal and state agencies. He was also recognized as a California Attorney of the Year by <em>The Recorder</em> following a five-month racketeering jury trial.</p><p>Throughout his time as a prosecutor, William has coordinated with a variety of state, local, and federal law enforcement partners, including the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), among others. He has also worked with numerous global law enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL, Europol, the UK Serious Fraud Office, and the UK National Crime Agency, among others.</p><p>William received his J.D. cum laude from Tulane Law School, where he also received a certificate in environmental law, and his B.A. from New College of the University of South Florida.</p><h4>Representative Experience</h4><h5>Private Litigation Experience</h5><ul><li>Obtained a rare jury verdict in a Clean Water Act trial in the Central District of California involving allegations of years of runoff into navigable waters, applying a recent Supreme Court decision regarding pollution point sources.</li><li>Obtained a complete defense victory through summary judgment for a leading transportation technology company against a prominent venture capital fund that alleged fraud and contractual interference.</li><li>Secured a favorable settlement after jury selection in a trial for a major biosciences company and founders, executives, and board members in a lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court alleging fraud, breach of contract, and tortious interference claims, which sought damages of $400–700 million.</li><li>Negotiated the return of more than $220 million in digital assets for a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, three weeks after these assets were stolen, completing one of the largest recoveries in DeFi history.</li><li>Representing OpenAI and two current executives in a claim for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition brought by Elon Musk.</li><li>Representation of a DeFicrypto exchange in relation to a major exploit resulting in the misappropriation of over $110 million, including negotiating return of most of the funds; assisting in identifying the attacker, leading to his conviction; and bringing a lawsuit against the attacker for return of remaining funds.</li><li>Representation of a technology company through discovery and repair of a defect that could have been exploited to adversely impact customers and result in litigation but was handled in a manner avoiding any impact to customers.</li><li>Negotiated the safe return of Tigran Gambaryan, a former decorated IRS Criminal Investigations agent who was unlawfully lured, detained, and prosecuted by the Nigerian government. The matter involved coordination with local counsel in Nigeria as well as other law firms and entities in the United States to raise awareness of his detention, bring pressure for his release, craft his legal strategy and trial defense, and pursue legal recourse against those who unlawfully detained him. All charges were dismissed against the client.</li><li>Representation of technology company against allegations of false advertising by City Attorney’s Offices. Representation concluded without any claims being brought against the client.</li><li>Representation of companies and executives through investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice. Representations concluded without charges being brought against the client.</li><li>Representation of companies and executives in regulatory investigations and cases investigated and brought by the CFTC and the SEC.</li><li>Representation of companies through investigations by state and local law enforcement.</li><li>Representation of companies in highly sensitive matters involving internal fraud investigations and involuntary and negotiated departures of the chief executive and other senior officers.</li></ul><h5>Government Experience</h5><ul><li>Brought accounting and securities fraud charges against a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and founder arising out of the $11 billion sale of a software company, which led to the conviction of the chief financial officer and became the largest fraud case in the history of NDCA.</li><li>Brought money laundering, conspiracy to commit international money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money exchange charges against an unregistered digital currency exchange, BTC-e, and its primary operator. Brought novel charges for the infamous hack of the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange.</li><li>Seized billions of dollars in digital currency, one of the largest seizures in U.S. history, related to the Silk Road digital black-market platform.</li><li>Brought money laundering, computer intrusion, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges against the perpetrators of a major cyber breach involving VIP customer accounts of a large social networking service and cryptocurrency fraud. This was one of the most rapidly investigated and charged cyber incidents of recent times.</li><li>Conducted an investigation into conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics into the largest and longest-running darknet market, Hydra Market, which accounted for approximately 80% of all cryptocurrency transactions on the darknet generally.</li><li>Brought securities fraud charges against an online cryptocurrency investment manager and its principal related to a fraudulent investment scheme valued at $20 million.</li><li>Brought theft of trade secrets charges against the chief engineer of a multinational transportation company regarding the misappropriation of self-driving vehicle technology.</li><li>Brought public corruption charges against the heads of various municipal and public utilities operations in California.</li><li>Brought bribery and honest services charges against a California state senator and organized crime and RICO charges in one of the most significant organized crime cases in history, involving the infamous Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.</li></ul><h4>Memberships</h4><ul><li>The Bar Association of San Francisco, Criminal Law Section, Executive Committee Member</li></ul>

William Frentzen

Partner

<div class="videoWrapper"><span class='youtube-wrapper'><iframe class="sticky-video" title="Meet MoFo San Francisco Litigation Partner Christine Wong" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/27P0I7oxkbc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="1" title="iframe"></iframe></span></div><p dir="ltr">Christine Wong focuses her practice on investigations, white collar criminal defense, and cross-border compliance matters. Christine draws on her unique background as an internal advisor and as a federal prosecutor in advising companies, boards and executives in a variety of matters that present significant legal and reputational risk – including white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement, internal investigations and related civil litigation. She also provides ongoing compliance advice to corporate clients. Christine has an active trial practice as first chair in both criminal and civil cases. </p><p>Christine is a former co-chair of MoFo’s Global Litigation Department and the firm’s Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White Collar Defense practice group. She also served as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she taught Civil Trial Practice. Christine served as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of California, where she investigated a wide range of matters including public corruption, fraud, and organized crime, and served as lead counsel in over a dozen jury trials. She briefed criminal appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.</p><p>Christine is regularly recognized by leading industry publications such as <em>Legal 500 US</em> in its Corporate Investigations and White Collar Defense category and <em>Chambers USA</em>’s (California) Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations category. Clients have highlighted Christine’s “exceptional and unique background combining DOJ experience, in-house experience, handling complex investigations and negotiations with government agencies,” and noted that she is “responsive to all levels and her team command is second-to-none.” Christine has also been included in <em>Daily Journal</em>’s 2025 Top 100 Lawyers list, highlighted in <em>Global Investigations Review</em>’s 2025 Women in Investigations series, recognized as a “Best Lawyer” in Criminal Defense: White Collar by <em>Best Lawyers in America</em>, and named among <em>Lawdragon</em>’s 500 Leading Global Crisis Management Lawyers.</p><p>Before joining MoFo, Christine led the development and implementation of the global compliance program for a Fortune 500 multinational corporation, where she served as vice president, head of international compliance. In that capacity, she conducted risk assessments for dozens of entities, which resulted in enacting necessary amendments to business workflows and policies. She was responsible for managing investigations and related litigation, reviewing policies and procedures, developing and delivering training modules, and ultimately reporting to the board of directors.</p><p>Christine speaks conversational Mandarin and Cantonese.</p><h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Representing Hawaiian Telcom in all matters arising from the 2023 Maui Wildfires.</li><li>Representing a waste management company in negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and the resolution of a parallel civil lawsuit filed by local authorities related to a public corruption investigation.</li><li>Representing Pacific Gas and Electric Company in investigations by the Safety and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission and related proceedings pertaining to wildfires.</li><li>Defending a Chinese semiconductor company indicted for theft of trade secrets and economic espionage.</li><li>Representing employees of a company in an accounting and securities fraud investigation.</li><li>Obtaining a declination for an individual in a criminal tax fraud investigation.</li><li>Representing a senior executive in an accounting fraud investigation by the DOJ and the SEC.</li><li>Counseling a multinational information technology equipment and services company on anti-bribery, antitrust and export control compliance.</li><li>Counseling a multinational entertainment company on anti-bribery training, policies and procedures.</li></ul><h4>Professional Memberships</h4><ul><li>American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section, White Collar Crime Committee, Vice-Chair</li><li>Women in White Collar Defense Association, Committee Member of the San Francisco Chapter</li><li>American Bar Association Northern District of California White Collar Subcommittee, Committee Member</li></ul>

Christine Wong

Investigations + White Collar Defense