Steven M. Witzel

Steven Witzel counsels clients in criminal and regulatory investigations, white collar criminal defense, securities enforcement, and regulatory interactions. Steven was the former Head of Fried Frank’s White Collar Defense, Regulatory Enforcement & Investigations Practice.

Steven provides pragmatic representation, primarily to public companies, audit committees, private equity firms, and individuals. Boards and committees also turn to Steven to conduct confidential internal investigations, including into allegations of domestic and foreign accounting frauds, antitrust violations, financial crimes and international anti-corruption violations, as well as related civil matters.

Among Steven’s recent noteworthy representations are:

• Former JPMorgan and Perella Weinberg investment banker in the “Silver Platter” SDNY insider trading trial
• Former managing director and head of regulatory reporting at Bank of America in a favorable no liability settlement against the SEC alleging aiding and abetting and/or causing securities law violations.
• Former Lehman Brothers president in criminal and enforcement investigations and related litigation
• Independent monitor of the US Virgin Islands Police Department, following selection by the US Department of Justice and the Virgin Islands Attorney General
• Broker-dealer (Direct Access Partners) founding partner in criminal FCPA bribery case of South American sovereign entity investors
• Over a dozen investment bank professionals at several international financial institutions in LIBOR, FX, ISDAfix, and Precious Metals market manipulation investigations, prosecutions and class actions.
• Board of directors of a public company in an international anti-corruption investigation
• Investment bank board of director in international criminal and regulatory investigation
• Japanese auto supply company T.Rad in civil and criminal antitrust actions
• Hedge fund CEO in criminal insider trading case
• Investment bank board member in criminal OFAC investigation
• Broker-dealer entity in criminal market manipulation investigation

Clients benefit from Steven’s extensive trial and appellate experience in a range of cases, including securities fraud, accounting fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, public corruption, and tax evasion. Steven was selected as an International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution Distinguished Neutral and has served as an arbitrator in several proceedings.

Steven was appointed to the Criminal Justice Act panel for the Southern District of New York in 2005. Reappointed continuously (most recently in 2019), he demonstrates our tradition of public service there by representing indigent defendants on a pro bono basis in federal criminal prosecutions.

A trusted voice in the white-collar space and dedicated member of the community, Steven was an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University School of Law. He is the co-author of the nationally recognized and cited treatise on grand jury function and law, Grand Jury Practice (Law Journal Press, rev. 2021). Steven has published articles in a variety of legal and academic publications, and currently has a quarterly column in the New York Law Journal where he addresses developments in the corporate criminal and anti-corruption areas. He regularly serves on panels addressing government investigations, accountants' liability, and white-collar criminal defense issues. 

Steven is routinely recognized by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, The Legal 500 US in White-Collar Criminal Defense and Antitrust: Cartel, and Benchmark Litigation as a “National Star” in the category White Collar Crime. 

After a favorable resolution of a nearly four-year SEC investigation and yearlong litigation, Steven was named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer in September 2017 for a case involving the head of regulatory reporting at Bank of America and its wholly owned broker-dealer, Merrill Lynch. The magazine praised Steven and his team for their “aggressive campaign to push back on the [SEC's] allegations,” which resulted in a settled order where the executive “neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, paid no financial penalty, and incurred no suspension.”

Before joining Fried Frank, Steven was a partner and associate general counsel at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from 1996 to 2005. Prior to that, he was an assistant US attorney in the Criminal Division, Southern District of New York, from 1989 to 1996. From 1985 to 1989, he was an associate at a leading New York law firm.