Mark is a former federal and state prosecutor who represents corporations and individuals in connection with government investigations, internal investigations, criminal and regulatory proceedings and related civil litigation. Mark has tried 25 cases, including some of the Department of Justice’s most complex financial fraud trials in recent years, and led multiple multi-year cross-border investigations of corporations and individuals. Mark has particular experience in investigations involving securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, crypto fraud, health care fraud, cyber-crime, bank fraud, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mark served in the Department of Justice for nearly 10 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and the Middle District of Florida, where he specialized in investigating and prosecuting financial and corporate crime. Before that, Mark served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for five years. Prior to becoming a prosecutor, Mark clerked for a judge in the Southern District of New York, and worked at a major international law firm in New York, handling complex civil litigation and white collar matters.
As a member of On-Chain: Reed Smith’s Crypto & Digital Assets Group, Mark has extensive knowledge about regulatory and enforcement issues affecting blockchain-based platforms, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets. His experience in this sector extends back to his time as a federal prosecutor, where he served as a “CHIP,” coordinating EDNY’s response in computer hacking and cryptocurrency fraud cases, and led and moderated multiple training panels on cryptocurrency for EDNY prosecutors. He also investigated and prosecuted multiple crypto fraud cases parallel to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including Initial Coin Offering (ICO) frauds, crypto investment platform frauds and a $10 million crypto-extortion case. Since joining Reed Smith in September 2021, Mark has worked on multiple compliance projects for crypto companies seeking to navigate FinCEN and SEC regulatory issues.
During nearly seven years in the EDNY, Mark tried eight cases to verdict, including the first ISIS terrorism trial in the United States, and six white collar trials. He also successfully argued four appeals before the Second Circuit. Mark held multiple leadership roles at the EDNY, including serving as deputy chief of the International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section, and serving for more than three years as one of EDNY’s CHIP coordinators for EDNY’s response to computer hacking, cyber fraud and cryptocurrency fraud incidents.
During his time as a federal prosecutor, Mark had the chance to work closely and in parallel with many domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies and regulators, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commerce Department, the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section and Money Laundering & Asset Recovery Section, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority and Brazil’s Ministerio Publico Federal.
Mark’s deep experience and knowledge about white collar crime has led to him speaking at securities fraud, cybercrime and cryptocurrency symposia, including lectures to EDNY’s Criminal Division, financial services industry events, a New York City bar event and multiple law school classes.
