NEW YORK, September 8, 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Daniel R. Alonso, who currently serves as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, will join Kaye Scholer LLP as a partner in its New York office, the firm announced today. Mr. Alonso will leave government service at the beginning of October.
Mr. Alonso will join Kaye Scholer’s White Collar Criminal Defense practice. Kaye Scholer provides its clients representation in sensitive matters, including internal investigations and responses to probes by federal and state agencies. The firm advises and represents clients when managing crises arising out of criminal and regulatory investigations by the Department of Justice, the SEC and others, as well as whistleblower complaints and audit committee reviews.
As Chief of the Criminal Division, Mr. Alonso supervised approximately 110 federal prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of a wide array of crimes, including securities fraud and other types of white-collar crime, public corruption, terrorism, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, computer crimes and violent gangs. During his tenure, the Eastern District’s Criminal Division broke new ground in prosecuting corporate fraud and other forms of white collar crime, including key prosecutions against former executives of Computer Associates International, Symbol Technologies and American Paper, as well as the public corruption prosecutions of City Councilman Angel Rodriguez and Deputy Nassau County Executive Robert McDonald. Additionally, Mr. Alonso oversaw the deferred prosecution of the New York Racing Association, including the successful federal monitorship that followed.
Among the cases that Mr. Alonso handled personally are the successful prosecution of the perpetrators of a $200 million securities fraud involving the notorious boiler room operation Stratton Oakmont, the prosecution of two dozen personal injury lawyers and their accomplices for their participation in a longstanding kickback scheme involving the settlement of negligence cases, and the conviction of 40 officers and members of Local 1 of the International Union of Elevator Constructors for a decades-long no-show jobs scheme. He has also personally successfully prosecuted numerous other cases involving public and police corruption, securities fraud, health care fraud, insurance fraud, murder, firearms trafficking and narcotics trafficking.
Mr. Alonso, who served nine years in the United States Attorney’s Office (the last three as Chief of the Eastern District’s Criminal Division) is a three-time winner of the Justice Department’s prestigious Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and is a recipient of the Henry L. Stimson Medal, awarded by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to outstanding Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Mr. Alonso previously served five years as an Assistant District Attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s office, where he was assigned to the Frauds Bureau and the Special Prosecutions Bureau. He also served a clerkship with the Honorable Joseph W. Bellacosa of the New York Court of Appeals.
“We are pleased that the Chief of the Criminal Division of the Eastern District of New York has agreed to join Kaye Scholer,” said Managing Partner Barry Willner. “Dan’s experience in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have distinguished him as a first-class litigator with special insight into the field of white collar representation.”
Kaye Scholer’s White Collar Criminal Defense practice is led by Paul J. Curran, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who also served as Special Counsel to the United States Department of Justice (appointed by the Attorney General). Other former prosecutors in the practice include: Jane W. Parver, former Executive Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as well as Chief of the Public Corruption Unit and Chief of the Major Crimes Unit; Gregory J. Wallance, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team; Michael Rogoff, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Arthur Brown, former Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s office and William Hoffman, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Alonso, who currently serves as the Chair of the Criminal Advocacy Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and is an active member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, is a graduate of Cornell University (B.A. 1987, with Distinction), and New York University School of Law (J.D. 1990).
