Jeffrey Plotkin

Jeffrey Plotkin has practiced law for over thirty years in the areas of securities enforcement, internal corporate investigations, complex private securities litigation and arbitration, and white collar criminal defense.  He represents broker-dealers, investment advisers, public and private companies, independent audit committees, corporate officers and directors, securities professionals and individual investors in adversarial matters nationwide. Mr. Plotkin also provides compliance consulting services to broker-dealers, investment advisers, and technology companies. 

Among his most recent representations, Mr. Plotkin:

• Conducted an independent internal investigation for an alternative asset management firm concerning criminal charges against the firm’s former Chief Compliance Officer;
• Represented a bond dealer in SEC and FINRA investigations, and related private civil suits, concerning valuations of mortgage-backed securities;
• Served as an expert witness for a sub-adviser to a mutual fund complex before the NYC Tax Appeals Tribunal concerning the broker-dealer sourcing rules;
• Represented a corporate partner of a law firm in an SEC investigation concerning Form 10-K disclosures by a NASDAQ-listed company;
• Represented mortgage-backed securities dealers, traders and salespersons in SEC and FINRA investigations concerning alleged pricing misrepresentations in trade negotiations with hedge funds;
• Represented a securities analyst in an SEC insider trading investigation;
• Represented a commodity futures trader in a CME spoofing investigation and disciplinary proceeding;
• Represented a hedge fund adviser in an SEC examination concerning cross-trading, valuation, and best execution of fixed-income securities;
• Represented a broker-dealer in examinations and investigations by the Connecticut Department of Banking concerning private placements; and
• Represented a broker-dealer in a FINRA arbitration proceeding, and in related motions to vacate and confirm an arbitration award in state court, concerning claims of employee “raiding” and misappropriation of trade secrets.

Mr. Plotkin started his 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 Interpretations; and Assistant Regional Administrator.  During his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Plotkin handled and supervised investigations and enforcement actions concerning underwriting fraud, market manipulation, boiler room sales fraud, short sale rule violations, investment fund fraud, free-riding and other margin violations, unauthorized transactions, and net capital and customer protection rule violations. 

After leaving the SEC, Mr. Plotkin has handled a number 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.);
• 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);
• Designated Independent Consultant for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to settlements with the SEC and NYSE in the so-called "Specialist Case,” In the Matter of LaBranche & Co. LLC, Exchange Act Release No. 49500 (March 30, 2004); and
• Independent Third Party Auditor of specialist algorithms for a NYSE specialist firm pursuant to former NYSE Rule 104(h). 

Mr. Plotkin is a former adjunct professor of law for New York Law School’s LLM Program for Financial Services Law, and was an annual guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business for over ten years.  He is the former Co-Chair of the Securities Subcommittee of the White Collar Criminal Litigation Committee of the New York State Bar Association, and principal author of the Committee’s 2010 published report regarding criminal prosecutorial discretion in insider trading cases.  He is the author of several published white papers and articles concerning broker-dealer regulation of electronic communications, and author or co-author of several published articles concerning SEC enforcement practice and insider trading.

Mr. Plotkin is Chair of the firm’s Practice Standards Committee and a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.  He is on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., a nonprofit law firm dedicated to improving the lives of low-income people by providing access to justice, and is Co-Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee.

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, “FINRA Arbitrations: A Comprehensive Guide for 2020 and Beyond,” Knowledge Group webcast, August 6, 2020

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"