Michael A. Asaro focuses on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations, white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations and commercial litigation. He has extensive litigation and investigatory experience involving matters arising under the federal securities laws, including insider trading, market manipulation, accounting irregularities, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, and broker-dealer and investment advisor regulation. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Asaro served for five years as a federal prosecutor and four years as an enforcement attorney at the SEC.

Mr. Asaro regularly defends companies and individuals in matters with the Department of Justice (DOJ), SEC and other federal and state agencies. Representative matters include the following—

• defended proprietary trading firm in SEC investigation of employee’s alleged circulation of false rumor regarding public company where matter was resolved without any charges against firm despite high-profile enforcement action against the employee
• represented CFO of NYSE-listed company in connection with insider trading and false disclosure investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office and obtained dismissal with prejudice of related class action complaint against client
• defended hedge funds and their principals, portfolio managers and analysts in numerous different SEC and DOJ insider trading investigations
• represented public companies and their employees in separate DOJ and SEC investigations of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• conducted internal investigation of insider trading allegations on behalf of private equity firm
• defended hedge funds, brokerage firms and their principals and employees in numerous different SEC and CFTC market manipulation investigations
• represented global financial institution in connection with FINRA investigations of embezzlement and unauthorized trading schemes by firm employees
• represented multi-billion dollar hedge funds in connection with separate and distinct insider dealing investigations by the Financial Services Authority
• represented State agency in connection with SEC investigation of alleged municipal bond offering fraud
• represented hedge funds in connection with SEC investigations related to the valuation of illiquid asset-backed securities
• represented international investment bank in connection with internal investigation of mismarking allegations in the commodities space
• represented multiple witnesses in connection with DOJ public corruption prosecution of a New York state senator
• represented registered investment advisors during the course of on-site inspections by the SEC’s examination staff
• represented pharmaceutical company and its employees in connection with joint investigation by the DOJ and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Mr. Asaro is a former assistant U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of New York. He served there as deputy chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section during a period when the office prosecuted numerous complex and high-profile securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery and money laundering cases. In addition to his supervisory duties, Mr. Asaro was the lead prosecutor responsible for several such cases, including United States v. William G. Brown, et al. (prosecution of over 20 defendants who participated in $20 million “boiler room” securities fraud scheme), United States v. Guillaume Pollet (first criminal insider trading case involving PIPE transactions), United States v. Frank Furino (prosecution of NYSE floor clerk for bribery and insider trading), and United States v. Kenneth E. Mahaffy, Jr., et al. (front-running prosecution involving stock brokers from several major firms). He also initiated and oversaw a wide ranging investigation of bribery and self dealing in the “stock loan” industry that resulted in indictments and guilty pleas of approximately 30 defendants. Mr. Asaro conducted multiple jury trials as an assistant U.S. attorney, several of which were securities fraud prosecutions.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Asaro served as a branch chief in the SEC’s New York office where he supervised staff attorneys working on a wide variety of regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. He was the lead counsel for many of these investigations, including a market manipulation investigation that resulted in fraud charges against a billion-dollar mutual fund and a financial fraud investigation that resulted in a settled regulatory action against a major health insurance company. Also during his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Asaro was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was part of the trial team that successfully prosecuted the former CEO of a publicly traded company who orchestrated a multimillion-dollar “pump and dump” securities fraud scheme.

Mr. Asaro received his B.S. from Boston University. He earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Brooklyn Law School, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. He is a member of the New York Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and the U.S. District courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. Mr. Asaro has been profiled by Securities Law 360 and BNA’s Securities Regulation & Law Report.