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White Collar Criminal Defense
Baruch Weiss is a trial attorney focusing on white collar and complex civil litigation. His practice includes securities fraud cases (both criminal and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations), off-label investigations of the pharmaceutical industry, homeland and national security investigations including Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) enforcement, public corruption, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations, administrative and criminal immigration enforcement actions against employers, and tax evasion. He has also handled complex civil antitrust litigation on behalf of a major pharmaceutical client. In addition, Mr. Weiss has extensive experience handling criminal appeals.
From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Weiss worked at the Department of Homeland Security serving as Acting Deputy General Counsel overseeing all the department's 1400 attorneys, and as Associate General Counsel. He supervised the chief counsels of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Customs and Border Protection; Transportation Security Administration; and Citizenship and Immigration Services. His areas of responsibility included criminal law, immigration enforcement, immigration services, customs enforcement, customs trade, aviation security, transportation security, and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Weiss served as Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement at the Department of the Treasury. There, he managed the legal work of more than 250 attorneys, including the chief counsels of Customs; Secret Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. He oversaw legal matters relating to customs enforcement, customs trade, criminal law, and national security; supervised the drafting of USA PATRIOT Act regulations governing financial institutions; and worked extensively on issues of money laundering and terrorist financing. He also worked closely with OFAC.
Mr. Weiss spent 18 years with the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York as Senior Trial Counsel, Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney, Acting Chief of Major Crimes, and Chief of General Crimes. As Senior Trial Counsel, he had extensive experience in a wide range of cases (securities fraud, bank fraud, wire and mail fraud, government contract and healthcare fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and public corruption), as well as terrorism and international criminal matters.
- Recently tried criminal tax-evasion case of owner of licensed international money transmittal business; acquittals on all counts.
- Represents pharmaceutical manufacturer in federal criminal off-label investigation.
- Conducting sensitive internal investigation for pharmaceutical manufacturer.
- Represent GlaxoSmithKline in US$2.5 billion class-action antitrust suit.
- Represent a number of hedge funds and associated individuals in a complex SEC investigation.
- Represent companies and individuals in enforcement and licensing proceedings before OFAC, primarily in connection with the Iran sanctions.
- Tried four-week federal criminal case in the Southern District of New York for client charged with violating the OFAC Iran sanctions; primary counts of conviction reversed on appeal.
- Represented Native American casino in effort to mitigate a fine proposed by FINCEN for failure to comply with anti-money laundering regulations; successfully mitigated proposed penalty by 75%.
- Won a historic victory in the foremost First Amendment prosecution of recent times, the so-called "AIPAC Espionage Act case," brought against two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The case had been the subject of numerous editorials and opinion pieces in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other major newspapers. The defense earned praise from the presiding judge for "zealously and very effectively" pursuing the defense with "vigor." After 10 years of investigation and prosecution, Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the case shortly before trial.
- Represented a European CEO in a criminal FCPA investigation.
- Conducted internal FCPA investigation for subsidiary of major company providing international security services.
- Represented a subject of a criminal insider trading investigation.
- Represent a number of corporations under administrative and/or criminal investigation by Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration violations.
- Represented the corporate officer of a meatpacking company indicted in one of ICE's largest criminal immigration-fraud investigations.
- Represented a high-level employee of a NASDAQ company in a stock option backdating case.
At the US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York prosecuted:
- US$1.4 billion securities fraud investigation of Prudential Securities Inc. The case was recognized as a "landmark" for establishing the precedent for the government's appointment of an independent expert as a company's director to monitor corporate compliance. See, "The Corporate Monitor: The New Corporate Czar," Michigan Law Review, 2007 (Vol. 105, p. 1713, 1717), authored by Vikramaditya Khanna and Timothy L. Dickinson.
- Four-month trial of boxing promoter Don King for insurance fraud.
- US$100 million bank-fraud prosecution of a Colombian coffee exporter.
- Tax-evasion trial of principal of New York brokerage firm.
- Bank-fraud and money-laundering trial of the former executive director of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
- The extradition of the political head of Hamas, and appeals arising from the first 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial and the Manila airline bombing trial.
Washingtonian's "Best Lawyers" 2011 for White Collar
Mr. Weiss has received awards and letters from the US Customs Service, FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, and an Exceptional Achievement Award from the US Attorney's Office.
Professional Activity
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Former Adjunct Professor of Law, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law
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Former Adjunct Professor of Law, Yeshiva University
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Former Lecturer in Law, Columbia University School of Law
Marcus A. Asner, Baruch Weiss and Craig A. Stewart "Case Study: US V. Woolf Turk" (PDF: 23 kB) White Collar Law360, December 20, 2010
"Treasury Department Issues General Licenses Easing U.S. Investment and Financial Services Restrictions on Burma" (PDF: 464 kB) Jul 2012
"Easing of U.S. Investment and Financial Services Sanctions on Burma" (PDF: 343 kB) May 2012
"Executive Order and Regulations Impose Sanctions on Iran's Financial Sector with Implications For Non-US Companies" (PDF: 1.25 MB) Feb 2012
"US Supreme Court Narrows Scope of "Honest Services" Mail and Wire Fraud" (PDF: 374 kB) Jul 2010