Daniel Goldfried

Daniel A. Goldfried is a seasoned litigator who represents individuals and institutions in a broad range of commercial litigation disputes and government investigations, with an emphasis on securities enforcement and regulatory compliance.

He has significant experience in parallel civil and criminal investigations and conducting internal investigations.  He also has extensive courtroom experience, trying to verdict three jury trials, an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court, and numerous arbitrations.

Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Dan served as Assistant General Counsel and Senior Vice President of the Regulatory Inquiries Group at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.  During his ten years at the Bank, Dan managed high profile, complex regulatory investigations, including the Bank’s financial crisis investigations, conducted by the SEC, DOJ, State Attorneys General, FINRA, the CFTC, and international regulators.

These matters involved fixed income securitization, underwriting, sales and trading, mark-ups, supervision and surveillance, research, insider trading, FCPA, and AML issues.

Dan also handled numerous retail brokerage matters involving a wide variety of issues, including suitability, churning, insider trading, selling away, outside business activities, mutual fund share class purchases, 529 savings plans, the sale of alternative investments, improper time and price discretion, forgery, circumvention of required supervisory reviews, improper use of margin, and improper registration.

Finally, Dan conducted internal investigations of Bank employees for possible sales practice abuses and other forms of alleged regulatory misconduct. Prior to joining the Bank, Dan was a Senior Counsel at the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in New York.

There, he managed multiple significant investigations involving mutual fund market timing, insider trading by hedge funds, market manipulation by an international investment bank, an offering fraud by a penny stock promoter, and financial fraud by insurance companies. He also represented the SEC in federal court proceedings and before Administrative Law Judges.

Dan began his career as a commercial litigator at one of the largest law firms in the desert Southwest, where he was elected partner in 2003. Upon graduating law school, Dan clerked for Chief Judge Robert C. Broomfield, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and the Honorable Lawrence S. Margolis, U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

EXPERIENCE :

• Represented a broker-dealer in multiple investigations by the SEC and DOJ into its fixed income securitization businesses, disclosures, and associated sales practices.
• Represented a senior fixed income structured product trader in an SEC investigation involving alleged market manipulation.
• Represented a broker-dealer and retail branch supervisors in a FINRA investigation into their supervision of registered representatives.
• Represented a broker-dealer in a FINRA investigation into improper fingerprinting and supervisory screening of associated persons.
• Represented a broker-dealer in an SEC investigation into the communications between its Research Analyst and a covered company.
• Represented multiple broker-dealers in retail customer arbitrations involving a variety of issues, including suitability, selling away and churning.
• Represented an attorney in a month long jury trial against claims of malpractice, violations of ethical rules, and punitive damages.
• Represented a leading technology company in a two week jury trial against a former employee and alleged whistleblower.

Education :

• The George Washington University Law School, JD, with Honors; Member, The George Washington Law Review, 1994
• University of Virginia, BA, Foreign Affairs, 1991

Admissions :

• New York
• U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Affiliations :

• Member, New York State Bar Association Committee on White Collar Criminal Litigation
• Member, New York State Bar Association Sub-Committee on Securities Fraud
• Member, SIFMA Legal and Compliance Division