New York, New York, United States
Avi Weitzman is a Partner in Paul Hastings’ New York office. He is an experienced trial and appellate attorney, and is a member of the Firm’s Litigation, White Collar Defense and Investigations, Securities Enforcement, and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups. His practice includes complex commercial litigation, and a wide range of government investigations and white-collar criminal and regulatory matters. In 2013, he was named one of five “Rising Stars” in the United States under the age of 40 in White Collar by Law360. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
White Collar Defense and Commercial Litigation
From 2005 to 2012, Mr. Weitzman served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he tried twelve federal criminal jury trials to verdict, and briefed and argued numerous federal appeals before the Second Circuit. As a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, Mr. Weitzman was part of the team of prosecutors leading the government’s “Operation Perfect Hedge” insider trading investigation, which resulted in several high profile insider trading cases against hedge funds and portfolio managers at those funds. Among others, Mr. Weitzman was part of the team that litigated United States v. Raj Rajaratnam and successfully defended the government’s use of wiretaps in that case, for which he received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Weitzman also was co-lead counsel in the first insider trading trial arising out of the government’s investigation of expert networking firms, United States v. Winifred Jiau. In addition, as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Weitzman investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal securities fraud offenses, and coordinated parallel civil proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also gained significant experience in international investigations as a member of the Organized Crime Unit, leading numerous large, complex racketeering investigations and prosecutions involving international organized crime, as well as Italian, Albanian and Asian criminal enterprises in the United States. Mr. Weitzman’s international investigations resulted in the historic extradition of more than 20 individuals from Israel for their involvement in international telemarketing fraud, the largest-ever extradition from Israel, as well as the extradition and conviction of the Chief Aide to the Albanian Deputy Prime Minister for murder, kidnapping and racketeering offenses in the United States.
Litigated criminal and civil cases and conducted internal investigations on behalf of business entities and individuals, with particular emphasis on clients in the media, publishing and entertainment industries. Among other representations, Mr. Weitzman was a member of the team of attorneys representing the Select Committee of the Connecticut House of Representatives in its impeachment investigation of former Governor John Rowland, which resulted in the resignation of Governor Rowland. In addition, Mr. Weitzman was a member of the team that obtained a preliminary injunction on behalf of Schick Manufacturing following a one-week evidentiary hearing concerning Schick’s false advertising and Lanham Act claims against The Gillette Company over the advertising of Gillette’s M3 Power Razor. Mr. Weitzman also conducted payola internal investigations at music labels.