Jeffrey Plotkin

Practice Areas

SEC Investigations & Examinations; White-Collar Defense; Complex Civil Litigation; Internal Investigations

Career

Previous:

Partner, Day Pitney LLP;

Associate, Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg, P.C.;

Assistant Regional Administrator, Division of Broker-Dealer Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Regional Office.

Professional Memberships

State Court Admissions: Connecticut and New York

Federal Court Admissions: United States Supreme Court; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit: United States District Courts for the District of Connecticut, Southern District of New York, and Eastern District of New York.

Chairman, Connecticut Legal Services, Inc.

New York State Bar Association, White Collar Criminal Litigation Committee, Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (Former Co-Chair, Securities Subcommittee)

Connecticut Bar Association, Federal Practice Section

American Bar Association, Business Law Section

Publications

Criminal Prosecutorial Discretion in Insider Trading Cases: Let's Look at the Numbers, NYLitigator, Fall 2010 (principal author)

Confidential Commercial Documents in the SEC's Investigative Files: Caution to the Complacent, Securities Regulation Law Journal, Fall 2010 (co-author)

SEC v. Bank of America: Back to the Drawing Board, ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter, Winter 2010 (co-author)

Responding To SRO Market Surveillance Inquiries Into Potential Insider Trading, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, October 2007 (co-author)

Securities Class Action Settlements - How Corporate Governance Reform Has Played a Role in the Process, New York Law Journal, September 20, 2007 (co-author)

The Act-Of-Production Privilege in SEC Proceedings, The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, Vol. 39, No. 1, January 4, 2006 (co-author)

SEC Enforcement Actions: Show Me the Money, New York Law Journal, December 19, 2005

The Tipper Benefit Test Under the Misappropriation Theory, New York Law Journal, August 15, 2003

Work Highlights

Jeffrey Plotkin, a former SEC Enforcement attorney, represents broker-dealers, investment advisers, and individual securities professionals in regulatory examinations, investigations, enforcement actions, and parallel criminal proceedings. He also handles private securities litigation and arbitration, and conducts internal investigations for financial services firms.

Among his recent matters, Mr. Plotkin:

- Represented a securities analyst and a hedge fund adviser in separate SEC GameStop investigations;

- Represented a broker-dealer in a Connecticut Department of Banking investigation concerning the sale of Fyre Festival securities to investors;

- Represented an investment banker in an internal investigation and related FINRA examination concerning the unapproved use of text messages for business-related communications;

- Conducted an internal investigation for an international bond dealer into potential misuse of material nonpublic information obtained from a prospective investment banking client;

- Represented a broker-dealer in a FINRA investigation and disciplinary action concerning a bond trader’s mismarking of inventory positions;

- Represented a Canadian hedge fund adviser in an SEC investigation concerning potential insider trading in a NASDAQ pharmaceutical stock;

- Represented a corporate partner of a large New York City law firm in an SEC investigation concerning Form 10-K disclosures by a NASDAQ company client; and

- Conducted an internal investigation for an alternative asset management firm concerning criminal charges filed against its former Chief Compliance Officer.

Mr. Plotkin started his career in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, New York Regional Office, where he served as Staff Attorney; Chief of the Branch of Broker-Dealer Enforcement and Interpretations; and Assistant Regional Administrator. During his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Plotkin handled and supervised investigations and enforcement actions concerning underwriting fraud, market manipulation, boiler room sales fraud, short sale rule violations, investment fund fraud, free-riding and other margin violations, unauthorized transactions, and net capital and customer protection rule violations.

After leaving the SEC, Mr. Plotkin handled a number of independent regulatory projects, including serving as the:

• Court-appointed Distribution Agent for the $65 million Fair Fund established in SEC v. McAfee, Inc. (f/k/a Network Associates, Inc.);

• SEC-appointed Plan Administrator for the $50 million Fair Fund established in In the Matter of Morgan Stanley, DW, Inc.;

• Designated Independent Consultant for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to settlements with the SEC and NYSE in the so-called "Specialist Case;” and

• Independent Third Party Auditor of specialist algorithms for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to former NYSE Rule 104(h).

Mr. Plotkin is a former adjunct professor of law for New York Law School’s LLM Program for Financial Services Law, and was an annual guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business for over ten years. He is the former Co-Chair of the Securities Subcommittee of the White Collar Criminal Litigation Committee of the New York State Bar Association, and principal author of the Committee’s 2010 published report regarding criminal prosecutorial discretion in insider trading cases.

Mr. Plotkin joined Finn Dixon in 2012, and is Chair of the firm’s Practice Standards Committee. Immediately prior to joining Finn Dixon, Mr. Plotkin was a Partner of Day Pitney LLP in its New York City and Stamford, CT offices.

Mr. Plotkin currently is the Chairman of the Board of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., the largest legal aid agency in Connecticut.

Education