Tom Bednar

Tom Bednar’s practice focuses on securities enforcement and litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and litigation.

Tom joined Cleary in 2022, after spending 13 years in the federal government, first as a federal prosecutor and then as an enforcement trial lawyer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tom has extensive experience leading investigations and litigation involving alleged violations of the federal securities laws, particularly in matters involving alleged accounting and issuer disclosure fraud. Tom advises companies, boards and audit committees on related issues, including disclosure and reporting of accounting restatements, interactions with independent auditors, and responding to whistleblower complaints. Tom regularly conducts trainings for public company legal and finance teams on best practices to reduce the risk of accounting restatements and enforcement investigations. Both at the SEC and in private practice, Tom has worked on some of the largest and most complex accounting and disclosure fraud investigations of the last decade, and he frequently speaks and publishes on these topics.

Tom represents multinational public companies and financial institutions in investigations by the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and State Attorneys General (AG). Tom frequently advises public companies and financial institutions on practices related to the handling of material non-public information, and insider trading policies. He also has extensive experience representing companies in consumer protection cases involving state AGs, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Tom has led internal investigations into a range of issues, including workplace misconduct, insider trading, and accounting fraud.

From 2014 through 2021, Tom served as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel and Supervisory Trial Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement Trial Unit, where he provided principal strategy on litigation risk, settlement, and charging decisions. Tom first-chaired all aspects of securities enforcement litigation in federal court and administrative actions, and supervised teams of enforcement litigators in courts throughout the country. In addition to accounting and disclosure cases, Tom developed expertise in cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), complex financial products and trading strategies, and regulated entities such as broker-dealers, investment advisers, and credit rating agencies.

Prior to joining the SEC, Tom was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 2009-2014, trying over 40 cases to verdict and investigating numerous offenses, including complex white collar and national security cases. Before his time in government, Tom clerked for a federal judge and worked as a litigation associate at another prominent firm in Washington, D.C.