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Experience:
Claudius Sokenu's practice focuses on domestic and international litigation, securities enforcement, white-collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, SRO enforcement and arbitration proceedings, and general complex commercial litigation. As a member of the firm's litigation department, where he co-heads the securities enforcement practice group and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) practice group, Claudius has significant experience in handling matters that require concurrent representation in the civil, criminal, and political spheres.
Claudius also has extensive experience representing broker-dealers, investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, accounting firms, auditors, and public and private companies in all aspects of securities regulation, compliance, enforcement, and litigation. In February 2007, Claudius was named to Securities Law 360's 10 Under 40, a list of 10 lawyers under the age of 40 who have demonstrated an outstanding breadth of knowledge and experience in the securities enforcement and litigation field.
Claudius brought a wealth of government enforcement experience to Mayer Brown when he joined the firm in 2001. He served first as a Staff Attorney (1998-2000) and later as Senior Counsel (2000-2001) in the Washington, DC, office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, where he was responsible for handling a broad range of the Commission's domestic and international enforcement matters, including investigations involving accounting fraud, insider trading, initial public offerings, illicit payments under the FCPA, investment companies and investment advisers, market manipulation, and broker-dealer misconduct. As a member of the enforcement staff, Claudius handled a number of high profile enforcement matters and initiatives, including the Commission's first ever joint enforcement action with the Department of Justice against KPMG and Baker Hughes Inc. for violations of the FCPA, and the Commission's enforcement action against Goldman Sachs & Co. for violating the federal securities laws in connection with the international public offerings of PetroChina Company Limited, China Telecom Hong Kong Limited, Chinadotcom Corp. and Giga Media Limited for which Goldman Sachs served as underwriter.
Claudius has lectured and published extensively on securities litigation and enforcement matters and has been quoted in the financial press on a variety of securities law issues. In 2005, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York appointed Claudius to serve on the Task Force on the Role of Attorneys in Corporate Governance. In 2003, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association honored Claudius as an outstanding outside corporate counsel. In 2001, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York honored Claudius for outstanding pro bono work in connection with a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Notable Engagements:
Representing a senior officer of Parker Hannifin Corporation in a criminal investigation by the United States Department of Justice regarding allegations of bid rigging, price-fixing, and market allocation in the marine oil and gas hose industry.
Representing the audit committee of a major oil services firm, Global Industries, Ltd., in a civil and criminal FCPA investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Successfully represented TV Azteca S.A. de C.V. in the first ever up-the-ladder reporting case under Section 307 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SEC v. TV Azteca S.A. de C.V).
Successfully represented the former chief executive officer of First BanCorp of Puerto Rico, Angel Alvarez-Perez, in Fox v. First BanCorp, Civ. No. 05-2148 (GAG) 2006 WL 4128534 (D.P.R. Nov. 6, 2006) and In re First BanCorp Derivative Litigation, 465 F. Supp. 2d 112 (D.P.R. 2006).
Represented certain issuers in the IPO allocation cases (In re Initial Public Offering Sec. Litig., 241 F. Supp. 2d 281 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)).
Successfully represented a major international insurance company in a civil and criminal investigation involving allegations of violations of the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA.
Representing Ernst & Young LLP in connection with its audit of Allied Deals, Inc., a privately-owned company that was accused of orchestrating a $600 million international Ponzi scheme fraud (Sterling National Bank v. Ernst & Young LLP).
Represented CIBC World Markets Corp. in obtaining dismissal of a fraud claim, in which the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, ruled for the first time that a clearing broker does not owe customers of its introducing broker a fiduciary duty (Goldstein v. CIBC World Mkts. Corp., 776 N.Y.S. 2d 12 (1st Dep't 2004)).
Successfully represented Bank of America in the civil and criminal investigation of Impath, Inc. for accounting fraud (SEC v. Saad).
Representing a former chief operating officer of a Fortune 20 company in civil and criminal investigations alleging accounting fraud.
Represented Arthur Anderson LLP in connection with the securities class action involving claims of accounting fraud by Global Crossing (In re Global Crossing Ltd. Sec. Litig., (S.D.N.Y. 2004)).
Represented two hedge funds, Q Funding, L.P., and RČ Investments, LDC, in obtaining a dismissal in their favor in a case involving settlement payment for securities transactions (PHP Liquidating, LLC v. Robbins, 291 B.R. 592 (D. Del. 2003).
Represented an investment banking firm in connection with the civil and criminal investigation of Enron Corp.
Represented a fund manager in connection with civil and criminal investigation concerning market timing and late trading.
Education:
Georgetown University Law Center, LLM, Securities and Financial Regulation, May 1998; Features Editor, Georgetown Law Weekly, London School of Economics and King's College, London, LLM, September 1995; Editor, King's College Law Newsletter, South Bank University, London, England, LLB, with Upper Second Class Honors (JD, magna cum laude equivalent), June 1994; Editor, South Bank Law Review Newsletter, Moot Court and Debate Team, 1992. |
