SEC Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir S. Grewal Joins Milbank's Litigation & Arbitration Group

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Oct 15, 2024, 16:01 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Milbank LLP is pleased to announce that Gurbir S. Grewal, most recently Director of the Division of Enforcement of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined the firm as a partner in New York. Prior to serving as Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, Mr. Grewal served as Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, Bergen County Prosecutor, and a federal criminal prosecutor for both the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the US Attorney's Office for New Jersey.

"Gurbir has a record of success as a high-ranking state and federal prosecutor, as New Jersey Attorney General, and most recently, as head of enforcement at the SEC," said Milbank Chairman Scott A. Edelman. "His deep experience will be extremely valuable to our clients on their most sensitive matters."

As Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, Mr. Grewal oversaw all investigations, enforcement actions and litigation conducted by the SEC and oversaw a staff of more than 1,300 attorneys and accountants nationwide from 2021 to 2024. During his tenure, the Commission brought over 2,400 enforcement actions, resulting in orders for more than $20 billion in financial remedies. These matters included more than 100 enforcement actions addressing noncompliance in the crypto space; a series of high-profile enforcement matters protecting investors in private funds from market manipulation and misleading or inadequate disclosures regarding conflicts of interest, fees and valuation; the first trial finding a defendant liable for insider trading in the shares of a peer company; significant matters involving audit firms and gatekeeper accountability; and a proactive initiative designed to ensure that regulated entities complied with their recordkeeping requirements.

As SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated in announcing that Mr. Grewal was stepping down as the SEC's Enforcement Director, "Every day, he has thought about how to best protect investors and help ensure market participants comply with our time-tested securities laws. He has led a Division that has acted without fear or favor, following the facts and the law wherever they may lead."

While serving as Attorney General of New Jersey from 2018 to 2021, Mr. Grewal was New Jersey's chief law enforcement officer and chief legal officer, heading the Department of Law & Public Safety, which employs more than 3,700 uniformed officers, 750 lawyers and thousands of additional public servants, including investigators and regulators. As Attorney General, he prioritized protecting New Jerseyans by bringing major antitrust actions alongside other states against several technology and social media companies, holding companies responsible for failing to protect customer data as a result of poor cybersecurity practices, targeting predatory lenders, and filing a number of major Natural Resource Damages cases against some of the country's largest companies for polluting New Jersey's natural resources. Prior to that, Mr. Grewal served for two years as the Bergen County Prosecutor, the chief law enforcement officer for New Jersey's most populous county.

Mr. Grewal also served as a federal criminal prosecutor for a total of ten years, first in the Eastern District of New York and then in the District of New Jersey. While serving as an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey, Mr. Grewal was Chief and Deputy Chief of the Office's Economic Crimes Unit. As a government prosecutor, Mr. Grewal led a number of high-profile securities fraud prosecutions, including the largest known computer hacking and insider trading scheme, which involved the theft of over 150,000 yet-to-be released press releases concerning public companies and over $30 million in illicit trading profits; and the first federal securities fraud prosecution of stock market manipulation involving high-frequency trading "layering" strategy. Earlier in his career, Mr. Grewal worked in private practice as a litigator. Mr. Grewal has tried many cases to verdict and participated in arguments in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Grewal will work closely with Milbank partner George S. Canellos, global head of the Litigation & Arbitration group, who also previously served as co-director of the SEC's Enforcement Division and as an Assistant US Attorney in the criminal division of the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

"Gurbir is the whole package—a brilliant lawyer, inspirational leader, extraordinary advocate, and warm and supportive colleague and friend," said Mr. Canellos. "It's hard to imagine a better fit for our firm and clients. At every stage of his career, Gurbir has exemplified exactly the qualities we prize most—creativity, public spirit, collegiality, and total dedication to the interests of his clients. His arrival further strengthens our deep and growing bench of former government officials and white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement specialists."

The firm recently welcomed partners Olivia Choe, who joined Milbank from the SEC where she served as Chief Litigation Counsel and was a close colleague of Mr. Grewal; Josh Sterling, who previously served as Director of the Market Participants Division of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and James Weingarten, former Chief Trial Counsel for the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission.

Last year, the firm welcomed Richard Parker, one of the nation's leading trial lawyers and a former Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition; Grant Bermann, former trial attorney at the DOJ's Antitrust Division; and Nola B. Heller, a market-leading white-collar and investigations lawyer and former unit chief at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

"I chose Milbank because of its reputation for substantive excellence and its deep bench of litigators, including a number of former prosecutors and regulators," commented Mr. Grewal. "I am excited to join this exceptionally talented team of lawyers, some of whom are also former colleagues, and leverage my experience as we help clients navigate their most sensitive, critical matters."

Mr. Grewal received his J.D. from the College of William & Mary and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

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