Benjamin Naftalis

Practice Areas

Benjamin Naftalis is New York Deputy Office Managing Partner and previously served as Global Co-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice.

Ben has broad experience advising companies, boards of directors, and senior executives on a wide range of matters, with a particular emphasis on government and internal investigations, enforcement matters, high-stakes disputes, and corporate crises. He has built a reputation as a go-to litigator with an unusual breadth of experience, regularly counseling companies and boards through audit and special committee investigations and other sensitive matters, and private fund managers on compliance, trading, and deal-related diligence.

Ben, a former federal prosecutor, has deep expertise before a range of US regulators, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in matters related to allegations of securities and commodities fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, accounting and healthcare fraud, prescription drug diversion, bribery and corruption, sanctions, and money laundering.

Ben advises clients on a range of compliance, litigation, and enforcement matters at the forefront of regulatory developments involving digital assets, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence. His recent matters have included investigations by the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regarding regulatory compliance for token offerings, centralized and decentralized trading platforms, insider trading, money laundering, and market manipulation.

Before entering private practice, Ben served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York and left as a senior member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, conducting joint and parallel investigations with the FBI, SEC, CFTC, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Defense (DoD), and foreign regulators. During his tenure at the DOJ, Ben led domestic and cross-border investigations involving securities fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, accounting fraud, wire fraud, terrorism and national security, international money laundering, and global narcotics trafficking. There, he tried eight federal jury trials and briefed and argued more than 10 appeals before the Second Circuit.

Ben clerked for Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Dennis Jacobs of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He began his career as a corporate development analyst at DoubleClick, later acquired by Google.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission and the Larchmont Manor Park Society.