People

Overview

Seth Taube, a former federal prosecutor and SEC official with over forty years of trial experience, handles securities and commercial litigation, SEC and state attorney general defense, corporate governance and white collar criminal defense matters in federal and state courts. He has also handled bankruptcy litigation and energy disputes.

Mr. Taube has defended both the New York Stock Exchange and self regulator FINRA in SEC matters, as well as senior executives, investment bankers and financial services institutions in SEC, state attorney general, and DOJ inquiries; acted as liquidator's lead counsel for a significant hedge fund collapse; has defended senior management of a leading stock research company in SEC investigations; and has handled financial restatement cases, FCPA inquiries, option back dating investigations, mortgage backed securities matters and inquiries of major mutual funds and their senior executives by the SEC and state attorneys general. Mr. Taube has extensive experience in international litigation and inquiries, securities-related regulatory and internal investigations as well as securities and international arbitrations.

Mr. Taube served as Branch Chief of Enforcement at the New York Regional Office of the SEC. He was awarded the Manuel Cohen Distinguished Lawyer Award by the Commissioners in 1982 and served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Securities Crime Unit of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Taube is currently teaching International Trade Law at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, and has taught courses on mergers, acquisitions and corporate litigation at Seton Hall Law School. He was also general counsel of an investment bank.

Admissions & Affiliations

  • New York State Bar
  • New Jersey State Bar
  • District of Columbia Bar
  • United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits
  • United States District Courts for the District of New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
  • Financial Regulatory Authority, Member of the Board of Arbitrators
  • New Jersey Uniform Securities Laws Study Commission
  • Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Law and Compliance Division
  • New Jersey State Bar, Securities Enforcement and Regulatory Committee, former Co-Chair
  • Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law, Member of the Board of Overseers
  • J.D., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law 1979
    cum laude
  • B.A., Queens College 1976
    magna cum laude

Experience

Commercial Litigation

  • Russian Real Estate Developer-representation in Southern District of New York civil forfeiture proceedings involving Russian, Moldovan, Cypriot, Swiss and U.S. issues; matter arising from the 2012 enactment of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Rule of Law Act
  • Larsen Oil & Gas-representation of international energy company in adversary proceedings in the U.S., Singapore, Norway and the UK
  • Aramark Corporation-representation of Fortune 100 food service and uniform provider in various contract disputes and other matters
  • Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.-representation of largest Chinese telecommunications company in a significant international dispute
  • Assisted Fortune 100 company in Venezuelan expropriation matter
  • Wells Fargo Bank-representation as lead counsel through trial and appeal in two $100 million litigations on behalf of bond indenture trustees
  • Echostar-representation of provider of foreign TV programming in contract disputes against satellite broadcaster
  • Merus Global-defended CEO in large contract litigation

SEC Investigations and Litigation

  • NYSE-Represent the Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (owners of the NY Stock Exchange) in market data pricing litigation
  • FINRA-Represent the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in matters involving jurisdictional and constitutional issues
  • International Trade Loan Hedge Fund-represent principal in SEC as well as Curacao based investigations and litigation
  • NY Attorney General-Defend climate change disclosure and other Martin Act investigations
  • Insider Trading-Defending investigations for trading on non-public information, including inquiry of political consultant and inquiry of Sao Paulo, Brazil based money manager
  • Senior Management-Representation of former CFO of a large public oil company in SEC internal controls inquiry and former CEO of Penn West Petroleum, Ltd. in SEC, class action and Canadian regulatory matters related to restatements of financial reports.
  • Financial Services-Represent investment banker in parallel SEC and DOJ investigations; represent broker-dealer in parallel SEC and FINRA matters; represent principal of REIT in SEC inquiry
  • Israeli Corporate Formation company-represent principals in SEC inquiry
  • Investment Advisor Custody Rule Cases--Represented fund managers in multiple SEC disputes
  • FCPA-Representation of Audit Committee of Fortune 100 company in Mexican anti-corruption internal investigation; representation of several other Fortune 100 companies in FCPA matters
  • Representation of one of the country’s largest mutual fund families in several SEC inquiries 
  • Gibbons v. Malone-Representation of media investor John Malone in Section 16(b) litigation
  • Proxy Contest for large mutual fund regarding Auction Rate Securities
  • Value Line, Inc.-Representation of Board of Directors of securities research company in SEC inquiries and spin-off transaction; represent holding company in SEC inquiry
  • U.S. v. Saltsman-Representation of lead defendant in criminal and SEC litigation involving “PIPE” investment vehicles
  • SEC v. Negrin-Co-counsel in first ever credit default swap insider trading case
  • Representation of the audit committees of NYSE public companies in internal investigations involving financial restatement and export regulations
  • Representation of two corporations with publicly traded securities that significantly restated their financial statements; defense of related class actions
  • Representation of CFOs of public company in both SEC inquiry and class action litigation
  • Representation of stock analyst in NYSE enforcement matter
  • Representation of senior executives of two major mutual funds in SEC and attorney general inquiries
  • Representations of senior management of a public company involving SEC and criminal investigations and of a special committee of directors in internal and government investigations of option back dating

Class Actions and Shareholder Litigation

  • Acquisition Litigation-representation of buyers and sellers of corporations in several litigations arising from private equity transactions
  • Representation of Public Company in takeover litigation
  • Representation in a class action against a national insurance broker
  • Representation of CFOs in two different class action financial restatement cases
  • Representation of a broker-dealer in a class action involving novel SLUSA issues
  • Representation of independent director in derivative action involving alleged nuclear regulatory violations

Awards and Community

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc.), 1995-2019

Recognized as a New York Super Lawyer (Thomson Reuters), 2006-2018