Direct dial: (212) 370-0334
Email: jklein@pkbllp.com
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JOSHUA KLEIN

Joshua Klein, a co-founder of the firm, represents individuals and entities in complex commercial litigation, criminal matters, government enforcement proceedings and internal investigations. He also advises on compliance matters. Mr. Klein's clients have included senior executives of several financial institutions and multi-national corporations, principals of privately held firms, hedge funds, traders, accountants, and several banks and broker-dealers. He regularly appears in court and handles matters involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, the United States Attorney's Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the New York Attorney General's Office, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and several other government agencies. He has also represented clients in arbitrations and civil litigation involving partnership disagreements, trading disputes, civil fraud allegations, and class action securities matters. Mr. Klein has also conducted internal investigations for financial institution clients.

Mr. Klein's practice has focused on securities, accounting, trade secrets, banking, tax, and antitrust. Mr. Klein's recent matters include:

Representing a former Lehman Brothers CFO in federal court multi-district litigation;
Representing a senior financial executive in connection with multiple investigations involving mortgage-backed securities;
Representing a senior executive of an international oil company in connection with multiple civil and criminal investigations and related civil litigation;
Representing a former principal of a financial institution in connection with parallel DOJ and DOL investigations;
Representing a compliance officer of an international financial institution in an SEC investigation;
Representing a hedge fund in an SEC investigation;
Conducting a hearing in federal district court and successfully refuting allegations made by a class-action objector;
Representing a subject in an international antitrust investigation that was recently terminated.

Prior to co-founding the firm, Mr. Klein served for a combined thirteen years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and as counsel with the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was widely recognized as one of the most experienced white-collar prosecutors in the Department of Justice. As a member of the SDNY Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force for more than six years, he was counsel in numerous securities fraud investigations and prosecutions including financial statement/accounting fraud schemes, market manipulation conspiracies, investment adviser frauds and insider trading schemes. Mr. Klein served as lead counsel in the insider trading investigation of Raj Rajaratnam and Galleon, which led to the convictions of dozens of individuals. Many of these matters involved coordination with parallel investigations and litigation brought by the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the self regulatory organizations and the New York State Attorney General's Office.

Mr. Klein has extensive trial experience, particularly in the securities fraud area. He was trial counsel in the successful prosecutions of Alberto Vilar and Gary Tanaka (former managers of the $8 billion Amerindo Investment Advisors fund) on charges of investment advisor fraud; Hafiz Naseem (a former investment banker) in relation to a multi-million dollar insider trading scheme; Morris Weissman (the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of American Banknote Corporation) for financial statement and accounting fraud; Frank Skelly and Craig Gross (former principals of Walsh Manning, Inc.) in connection with a $100 million market manipulation scheme; former brokers of Investors Associates, Inc. for their roles in a stock fraud scheme; and George Balis, the CEO of Millenium Direct, Inc. and a former attorney, for orchestrating a kickback scheme. In addition, Mr. Klein conducted other trials and hearings in federal district court and briefed and argued numerous appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

As an AUSA, Mr. Klein also obtained guilty pleas in several additional securities fraud cases including of executives at Aurora Foods Inc. for perpetrating an accounting fraud, James Nicholson in the Westgate Ponzi scheme, and various individuals involved in the Galleon insider trading investigation. In addition to his experience in the securities and investment advisor fraud arenas, Mr. Klein was also a member of the Office's Complex Frauds Unit, where he prosecuted cases involving investment fraud, bank fraud, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property offenses.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Klein served as Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC in Washington, D.C., conducting investigations and litigation concerning violations of the federal securities laws. Before joining the SEC, Mr. Klein, for three years, was an associate with a prominent international law firm.

Mr. Klein has been a speaker on securities law, corporate governance and criminal law matters at programs sponsored by, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice's National Advocacy Center, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Directors' Roundtable, Columbia Business School, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers' Association. He is also a featured faculty member on Lawline.

A graduate of Harvard Law School (1993, cum laude) and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1990, High Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa), Mr. Klein is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

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