Summary: While the bank involved in a “pay-to-play” scheme has already settled with the SEC, the SEC is now filing a civil complaint against the attorney involved in the scheme.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing a senior partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough of playing a part in a “pay-to-play” scheme involving State Street Bank and Trust Co. The illegal scheme involving Robert Crowe, the co-chair of the firm’s government affairs practice, aimed to secure public pension contracts in Ohio.

State Street settled for $12 million with the SEC to avoid further prosecution. Now the SEC is turning to Crowe, filing a civil complaint against him in an Ohio federal court. They claim that he acted as “conduit” for State Street’s corrupt payments to Ohio deputy state treasurer Amer Ahmad.

The alleged scheme is believed to have involved an agreement between Ahmad and Vincent DeBaggis, the former head of State Street’s public funds group. Under the agreement, DeBaggis made payments in the form of cash and campaign funds to Ahmad in return for public pension fund contracts.

State Street settled with the SEC but isn’t admitting to the allegations against them. DeBaggis, who no longer works at State Street, also settled with the SEC for around $274,000 in penalties, disgorgement and prejudgments interest.

According to the SEC complaint, “Crowe met Ahmad’s demand for campaign contributions by illegally filtering $16,000 through his personal bank account and reimbursing individuals for contributions made in their own names.” In addition, “Crowe continued to make secret illicit campaign contributions until at least September 2010 in response to Ahmad’s threats that State Street would lose the business.”

In a statement to The Am Law Daily, Nelson Mullins general counsel James Gray Jr. stressed, “It is important to remember that the complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission contains allegations against Mr. Crowe that have not yet been proven in court.”

State Street was represented by William McLucas of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Door. DeBaggis was represented by Pravin Rao at Perkins Coie.

Source: http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202747161552/SEC-Targets-Nelson-Mullins-Partner-in-Alleged-PaytoPlay-Scheme

Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-8.html

Photo courtesy of sec.gov

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The law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP announced via a press release that it has added three litigators to its Jacksonville office. The three new litigators are Lee Wedekind, Frank Morreale and Troy Smith. All three have joined the law firm as partners and will work on a multitude of business disputes at the federal and state levels all across Florida.

The law firm opened in 1897 and employs more than 500 attorneys and other professionals in offices located in the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, West Virginia, and throughout the Carolinas.

The Jacksonville office opened in June of 2013. In 2009, an office for the firm opened in Tallahassee. The Jacksonville office is the 14th for the firm in the United States.

Morreale joins the firm in its business litigation group. He has experience representing banks, insurance companies and members of the mortgage industry with litigation, arbitration and technology disputes. Morreale holds licenses for all state and federal courts in Florida, the state court in New York and three New York federal courts.

Smith represents businesses and financial companies in contractual and commercial disputes. He has handled cases involving product liability, real estate, eminent domain, class action litigation, construction law and software technology. Smith has licenses for all state and federal courts in both Florida and Texas.

Wedekind has experience with property rights and valuation disputes. His clients include businesses, property owners, and governmental entities. He has represented clients in disputes involving eminent domain, ad valorem tax assessments, environmental contamination and enforcement of covenants and restrictions.

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This week, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP announced that the firm has hired two corporate associates at its Nashville office.

Thallen Brassel is a former associate with Burr and Forman LLP in Nashville, and had also worked in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCoy LLP in New York.

Brassel works on business, tax and insurance regulation law. She advises clients on business formation and planning, tax aspects of corporate transactions, estate planning, lending and borrowing arrangements, securities offerings and bankruptcy restructuring.

Lori Brewer, the other associate worked previously in the Banking Department of Otterbourg, Steindler, Houston & Rosen P.C. in New York and in the Global Finance/Corporate Department of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in Charlotte, N.C. Brewer practices mergers and acquisitions, debt financing and business technology. She also represents portfolio and growth companies and negotiates both for vendors and suppliers.

Nelson Mullins opened its Nashville office last year with six attorneys, which has now grown to ten.

Larry Papel, the managing partner of the firm’s Nashville office said “We welcome Thallen and Lori to our corporate group … They are bright, young attorneys, with sophisticated experience, who enhance our client service capabilities.”

Nelson Mullins is assiduously trying to build up its strengths and in April the firm added two attorneys who work on the captive insurance industry in Nashville. Papel also said that soon other attorneys focusing on healthcare, technology, real estate, litigation and government relations are expected to join the firm.

Nelson Mullins is a 500-attorney law firm established in 1897 and the firm has offices in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina.

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Attorneys Kevin Doherty and Cynthia Wiel joined the Tennessee-based firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough this week. Doherty and Wiel’s strong background in insurance regulation, particularly involving captives, will strengthen the firm’s insurance regulation practice in its Nashville office.

Doherty joined Nelson Mullins as a partner and brings his expertise in insurance regulation to the table. Perhaps best known for his work in rewriting the 2011 Tennessee captive insurance law, Doherty has particular emphasis in captives and other alternative insurance methods, as well as insurance transactions. He is also known for his experience representing clients in the entertainment industry through contracts and transactional deals. He is deeply familiar with all aspects of entertainment law and has worked with individuals on all ends of the music industry, including singers, publishers, writers, and music companies.

Speaking to his strong background in captive insurance, Doherty is currently the president and chairman of the Tennessee Captive Insurance Association. He is deeply involved in the Nashville community, participating regularly in organizations like Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, the Nashville Food Project, and youth hockey. Doherty was named “Best of the Bar” by the Nashville Business Journal and included in the ’07-’13 list of “The Best Lawyers in America” for the Insurance Law, Entertainment Law-Music category.

Ms. Wiels also joins Nelson Mullins’ Nashville office, serving as Of Counsel. Like Doherty, she brings a deep background in regulatory law in the areas of insurance regulation, business and transactions, health care, liquor regulation, and city utilities regulation. Like Doherty, she has particular expertise in captives, and currently serves as the co-chair of the Government Relations Committee in the Tennessee Captive Insurance Association. She has worked with both local and city officials, representing clients primarily on the business and corporate side.

Ms. Wiels’ expertise in regulatory law is particularly notable considering her experience working with members of the state legislature. For two years, she worked as a legislative assistant for then Tennessee Speaker of the House, Jimmy Naifeh. Having worked intimately from all sides of the drafting process, she is better able to advise her clients on the effects of state and local law.

In a news release, Larry Papel, the firm’s Manager Partner in Nashville, warmly welcomed the two newest members of the firm. “We welcome Kevin and Cynthia to the Firm and to our Nashville team and look forward to introducing them to our clients. Their experience adds to the Firm’s regulatory and healthcare practices and provides depth to our scope of client services.”

Nelson Mullins’ Nashville office is a relatively new branch of the firm. The office was opened in April 2012 and currently houses approximately 100 attorneys who concentrate on the firm’s work related to e-discovery.

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Those resurfacing at Nelson Mullins include five Boston partners, including Wolf Block Public Strategies CEO Robert Crow; two associates and two lobbyists from Boston; and a lobbyist from Washington.

Crowe was co-chairperson for finance for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 presidential campaign, and is co-chairperson of Senator John Kerry’s finance committee and political action committee.

Wolf Block’s partnership dissolved the 106-year-old firm on March 23th.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP is a large US law firm and lobbying group based in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm the the largest in South Carolina and 111th largest in the United States. The firm also ranked 127th in profit per attorney on the 2007 Am Law 200 survey.

The post Wolf Block Groups Join Nelson Mullins first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Canada is the United States’ biggest trading partner.

He joins other prominent South Carolina political figures already working in government relations at Nelson Mullins. They include Dick Riley, two-time governor and US education secretary; Phillip Lader, former ambassador to the UK, administrator of the Small Business Administration and White House deputy chief of staff; and George B. Wolfe, former deputy general counsel at the Treasury Department and deputy director of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Also employed with Nelson Mullins are Wilkins’ former law partner, Timothy E. Madden, and his son, Robert W. Wilkins.

Wilkins, a Republican, was named to the coveted diplomatic post by former President George W. Bush, whom Wilkins had backed during South Carolina’s pivotal presidential primary in 2000 and again in 2004.

He received his law degree from the University of South Carolina.

The post Former SC House Speaker Joins Nelson Mullins first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The attorneys include partners Dean Bunch and Andy Bertron, of counsels Melissa Fletcher Allaman and C. Everett Boyd, Jr., and associate Virginia L. Gulde. These attorneys represent most of the automobile manufacturers and importers doing business in Florida.

The group plans to remain at their current Tallahassee offices.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP is a large US law firm and lobbying group based in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm the the largest in South Carolina and 111th largest in the United States. The firm also ranked 127th in profit per attorney on the 2007 AmLaw 200 survey.

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