Jeffrey Plotkin

Jeffrey Plotkin practices in the areas of securities enforcement, securities compliance, internal corporate investigations, complex private securities litigation and arbitration, and white collar criminal defense.

Mr. Plotkin started his legal career in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, New York Regional Office, where he served as Staff Attorney; Chief of the Branch of Broker-Dealer Enforcement; and Assistant Regional Administrator. 

Recent matters include:

• Representing mortgage-backed securities dealers, traders and salespersons in SEC and FINRA investigations concerning alleged misrepresentations in trade negotiations with institutional investors;
• Representing investment advisers and their affiliated persons in SEC investigations and actions concerning asset valuation, investment performance reporting and regulatory disclosures;
• Representing broker-dealers and associated persons in arbitration of industry disputes before FINRA Dispute Resolution;
• Representing hedge funds and their general partners and investment advisers in connection with disputes with limited partners;
• Representing broker-dealers in SEC, FINRA and stock exchange investigations concerning algorithmic trading programs, with a focus on quote stuffing, spoofing, layering, wash trades, excessive cancelations, matched trades, marking the close, SEC Market Access Rule compliance, and electronic market maker quoting and pricing obligations;
• Representing public companies, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and individuals in insider trading investigations and actions by the Department of Justice, SEC, and FINRA;
• Representing sovereign wealth funds in civil litigation and government investigations related to “pay-to-play” schemes involving investments in private equity funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, and CDOs;
• Representing a futures commission merchant before the United States Supreme Court in a civil action seeking damages against a futures exchange for failure to enforce its own rules;
• Representing public companies and their officers in SEC investigations concerning accounting fraud; and
• Representing a public accounting firm in an SEC investigation concerning audit failures.

Mr. Plotkin has handled a variety 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.), C-06-0009 (PJH) (N.D. Cal.);
• Serving as the SEC-appointed Plan Administrator for the $50 million Fair Fund established in In the Matter of Morgan Stanley, DW, Inc., Exchange Act Release No. 52482 (September 21, 2005);
• Serving two consecutive years as the Independent Third Party Auditor for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to former NYSE Rule 104(h).  In that role, he conducted reviews of all specialist algorithms and systems to ensure they operated in accordance with SEC and NYSE rules; and
• Serving as the designated Independent Consultant for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to settlements with the SEC and NYSE in the so-called "Specialist Case" (which involved allegations that NYSE specialists inter-positioned and traded ahead of customer orders on the NYSE).  In that role, he conducted a review of all the specialist's policies, procedures and systems for handling customer order flow on the NYSE, and recommended amendments and revisions to the specialist's policies, procedures and systems to ensure compliance with SEC and NYSE rules.

Immediately prior to joining Finn Dixon & Herling LLP in March 2012, Mr. Plotkin was a Partner of Day Pitney LLP in New York City and Stamford, CT.  He previously was an Associate of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg, P.C. in New York City.

Author, "BlackBerry: The FINRA Compliant Smartphone," February 2011 (White Paper commissioned by Research in Motion Limited) Download Here

Co-author, "Criminal Prosecutorial Discretion in Insider Trading Cases: Let's Look at the Numbers," NYLitigator, Fall 2010 Download Here

Co-author, "Confidential Commercial Documents in the SEC's Investigative Files: Caution to the Complacent," Securities Regulation Law Journal, Fall 2010 Download Here

Co-author, "SEC v. Bank of America: Back to the Drawing Board," ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter, Winter 2010 Download Here

Author, "The Designated Third Party Requirement: The Final Frontier of SEC Rule 17a-4(f)," November 2009 (White Paper commissioned by Iron Mountain) (republished February 2012) Download Here

Author, "BlackBerry in the Regulatory Spotlight: FINRA Provides Compliance Guidance to Member Firms Regarding 'Non-Member E-Mail Platforms' and 'Personal Electronic Communications Devices,'" February 2008 (White Paper commissioned by Research in Motion Limited)

Co-author, "Responding To SRO Market Surveillance Inquiries Into Potential Insider Trading," The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, October 2007 Download Here

Co-author, "Securities Class Action Settlements - How Corporate Governance Reform Has Played a Role in the Process," New York Law Journal, September 20, 2007 Download Here

Co-Author, "Reaping the Benefits of Electronic Message Surveillance," 2006 (report of broker-dealer survey conducted with Fortiva, Inc.) Download Here

Co-author, "The Act-Of-Production Privilege in SEC Proceedings," The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, Vol. 39, No. 1, January 4, 2006 Download Here

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

Author, "E-Mail Discovery: Worst Case Scenarios vs. Best Practices," 2004 (White Paper commissioned by Veritas/Symantec, Inc.) Download Here

Author, “Corporate Governance – The Impact on your IT Staff,” September 5, 2003 (White Paper commissioned by Veritas/Symantec)

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

Author, "Broker-Dealer Regulations Concerning E-Mail," New York Law Journal, December 4, 2002 Download Here

Panelist, “Enforcement 2015 – New Priorities, Initiatives and Latest Developments,” Regulatory Compliance Association Symposium, “Compliance, Risk & Enforcement – New York 2015,” November 3, 2015, New York City

Panelist, “FINRA’s Guidance for Securities Traders Using Algorithmic Trading Strategies: A Perspective,” Knowledge Group webcast, October 27, 2015

Panelist, "SEC Initiates Flash Boy Regulations – A Comprehensive Analysis," Regulatory Compliance Association, Practice Edge Webinar, October 7, 2014

Adjunct Professor of Law, Course: "Criminal Prosecution Affecting Financial Firms - A Defense Perspective," New York Law School LLM Program in Financial Services Law, Spring 2011

Guest Lecturer, Subject: "Insider Trading Law for Securities Analysts," Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 1996 to 2010

Panelist, "Treasury's Proposed Regulator Overhaul - Implications for Technology," Second Annual SecuritiesTech Conference, sponsored by Securities Industry News, October 6, 2008, New York City

Panelist, "Global EDiscovery: Cross-Border Employees And Privacy Protocols For Cross-Border Discovery In U.S. Civil Litigation And Investigations," IQPC eDiscovery Conference for the Financial Service Industry, February 29, 2008, New York City

Panelist, "How to Handle SEC Investigations from the Informal Investigation Stage to the Conclusion of the Wells Notice Process," Broker-Dealer Enforcement Conference, sponsored by American Conference Institute, October 24, 2005, New York City

Co-chair, Broker/Dealer Information Management Conference, sponsored by American Conference Institute, March 17-18, 2005, New York City; Panelist, "Meeting Storage Requirements for E-Mail, Instant Messages, and Electronic Documents;" Panelist and Moderator, "Practical Solutions, Integrating a Compliant and Effective Data Management Program into Corporate Culture"