< Directory Arthur S. Greenspan

Arthur S. Greenspan helps financial-industry and other clients effectively defend governmental and regulatory investigations and defend or pursue complex civil litigation.  He has particular expertise in defending claims or investigations alleging securities fraud, insider trading, accounting and disclosure violations, corrupt payments, and antitrust violations.  He also has substantial experience in litigating trading and transactional disputes.

Mr. Greenspan represents companies, as well as individual executives and financial professionals, in federal and state courts and before law enforcement authorities including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York (NY AG), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).  He also has extensive experience representing clients in arbitration proceedings.

His exemplary work and professionalism have earned him recognition as a top litigator and a leader within the legal community. He has been recognized in New York Super Lawyers in the area of securities litigation (2007-2011). In October 2011 he was named a Vice President of the Federal Bar Council, and he recently served as President of the Federal Bar Council American Inn of Court (2009-2010).

Examples of Mr. Greenspan’s recent corporate engagements include:

• Defending a large hedge fund in an SEC investigation regarding collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) backed by subprime mortgage assets;
• Defending a major bank in putative antitrust class actions alleging a price-fixing conspiracy and manipulation in the auction rate securities market;
• Representing a securities firm in litigation with a counterparty bank concerning a disputed credit default swap in the subprime mortgage-backed securities market;
• Handling litigation on behalf of an agent bank in a dispute with other lender banks regarding the agent’s claim for indemnification;
• Defending a broker-dealer in a FINRA investigation concerning alleged misuse of nonpublic information by one of the firm’s research analysts;
• Representing a securities firm in DOJ and SEC investigations concerning a client’s alleged illegal stock-option backdating scheme;
• Defending a pharmaceutical company in investigations by the DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services concerning alleged Medicare fraud in the enteral nutrition industry; and
• Representing a securities firm in an FCPA investigation by the SEC concerning Latin American sovereign debt transactions.

His recent assignments for individual clients include:

• Defending a Swiss private banker charged criminally by the DOJ with aiding and abetting U.S. clients in evading taxes;
• Defending the former CFO of a public company in an SEC investigation and class action litigation concerning the company’s accounting and disclosures relating to revenue recognition; 
• Representing the former head of a bank's municipal derivatives sales desk in DOJ criminal antitrust and SEC investigations regarding the municipal derivatives market;
• Defending former senior bankers and an analyst at a major securities firm in DOJ, SEC and NY AG investigations concerning subprime mortgage-backed securities, CDOs and auction rate securities;
• Defending a former CFO of a Fortune 20 company in DOJ and SEC investigations and class action litigation concerning alleged earnings management and fraudulent misrepresentations in the company’s SEC filings; and
• Representing an executive at a large manufacturing company in DOJ criminal antitrust and FCPA investigations concerning the marine hose industry.

Mr. Greenspan received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1986.  He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1989.  He served as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1989-1990.

He is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Honors & Awards

Selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a New York Super Lawyer for Securities Litigation, Business Litigation and White Collar Criminal Defense (2007-2011)  

News

• Acquisition International names RK&O 2011 White-Collar Crime Law Firm of the Year
• U.S. News-Best Lawyers awards RK&O "Law Firm of the Year" in White Collar-Government Investigations Law and recognizes firm's other practice areas
• RK&O attorneys recognized as 2011 Super Lawyers
• Arthur Greenspan quoted in the InvestmentNews article "Power Grab"
• Arthur Greenspan quoted in Bloomberg BusinessWeek article "SEC Recommends Common Standard for Brokers, Advisers"
• RK&O attorneys recognized as 2010 Super Lawyers
• RK&O and the Brennan Center for Justice have amicus success: New York's highest court allows landmark indigent defense lawsuit to proceed
• The Legal 500 United States Refers to Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP’s White-Collar Criminal Defense Practice as Having an "Excellent Relationship With Regulators"

Seminars & Speaking Engagements

• Arthur Greenspan presents PLI’s “Handling a Securities Case 2012: From Investigation to Trial and Everything in Between”
• Arthur Greenspan participates in "Changes Within the SEC Enforcement Division: A Practical Perspective" webcast hosted by West LegalEdcenter

Publications

• "Proposed SEC Rules on Uniform Fiduciary Standard Expected Soon" by Arthur S. Greenspan, published in Bureau of National Affairs Securities Regulation & Law Report
• "SEC Set to Issue Report on Proposed Uniform Fiduciary Standard" by Arthur S. Greenspan, published in Bureau of National Affairs Securities Regulation & Law Report
• "Responses and Strategies In Dealing With a Changed SEC" by Arthur S. Greenspan, published in the New York Law Journal

Professional & Community Affiliations

• Vice President, Federal Bar Council
• President, Federal Bar Council American Inn of Court (2009-2010)
• Member, Committee on White Collar Criminal Litigation, New York State Bar Association