Adam C. Ford

Adam C. Ford is a thoughtful tactician and an indefatigable fighter who represents individuals and corporations engaged in high-stakes civil and criminal litigation, as well as regulatory investigations and enforcement actions.

Adam has extensive experience representing defendants in both state and federal courts in every aspect of white collar prosecutions and regulatory enforcement actions from investigation through appeal and has handled major matters involving allegations of securities, wire, mail, and accounting fraud, money laundering, FCPA and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) violations, insider trading, cherry-picking, pump and dump schemes, obstruction of justice, false statements, food and drug misbranding, and tax offenses, among others.

Adam has expertly guided clients through various regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings, many involving complex and novel theories, instituted by the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, Department of Justice, various Attorneys General Offices, District Attorneys Offices, Federal Reserve Board, and State Tax Departments.

Adam's practice also extends to representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of complex commercial disputes, initiating and defending actions involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, employment law and business and partnership disputes.

Adam also has extensive experience conducting internal investigations on behalf of companies and institutions, including a review into the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular disclosures made regarding Puerto Rico municipal bond holdings in the lead up to Puerto Rico's financial crises.

Adam is the Managing Partner of the firm's white collar, regulatory and sanctions practices. 

Select Engagements:

• Represents CEO of a large oil and gas corporation in a civil forfeiture action seeking to recover a $300 million dollar asset that was wrongfully seized by the Department of Justice.

• Represents a well-known celebrity day trader in criminal indictment alleging involvement in a $114 million dollar stock manipulation scheme scheduled for trial in October 2023.

• Represents former Mozambique Minister of Finance indicted on bribery and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges in the Southern District of New York.

• Obtained vacatur by Second Circuit Court of Appeals of more than $7 million disgorgement award against CEO of public company accused by SEC of misappropriation of funds raised through private offerings

• Represents a Washington D.C. think tank in connection with allegations of violation of Foreign Agents Registration Act.

• Represents a large bank sued by a survivor of a terrorist act alleging violation of the Antiterrorism Act.

• Represents CEO of public company in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil litigation involving allegations of a $27 million pump-and-dump scheme.

• Represents a CEO of Bahamian broker-dealer in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission litigation involving allegations that he violated SEC anti-solicitation laws in connection with his ownership of the broker-dealer, scheduled for trial in the fall of 2023.

• Represents a stockbroker in a SEC civil case which alleges he engaged in multiple fraudulent schemes to "pump and dump" thinly-traded microcap issuers.

• Three civil litigations alleging violations of the short-swing profit rule in Section 16(b) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.

• Represents plaintiffs, victims, and survivors of the August 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut (the Beirut Blast) against a U.S.-Norwegian company that as alleged in the complaint is responsible for bringing the ammonium nitrate to the port as part of a bribery scheme with members of Hezbollah.

• Represents a doctor in a defamation case against a hospital whose false allegations resulted in the doctor being indicted for 25 counts of murder, for which he was ultimately acquitted.

• Represents investors in early-stage digital asset company in a civil litigation to recover hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency assets.

Prior Victories:

• A full acquittal after a nine-week trial in the 2019 Platinum Partners case for former Platinum CFO Joseph SanFilippo. SanFilippo faced five felony counts for alleged securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, and conspiracy. Thanks to the efforts of Adam and Ford O'Brien Landy LLP, he was acquitted on all counts and walked out of court a free man.

• Obtaining dismissal of a federal indictment charging a $17 million pump and dump scheme.

• Convincing the New Jersey Attorney General's office not to bring any charges against large financial advisers following a two-year investigation into the sufficiency of its disclosures of Puerto Rico board holdings.

• Successfully convincing the SEC to drop any claims for disgorgement and civil penalties connected to an alleged $20 million securities fraud.

• Successfully recouping a multi-million-dollar loan on behalf of a large investment advisory firm that had been fraudulently induced into making the loan.

• Representing HSBC employees being investigated for their potential involvement in OFAC and money laundering violations.

• Representing a stockbroker being investigated by the SEC in connection with offering a Private Placement Program.

• Representing a senior scientist at a major U.S. pharmaceutical company in a federal criminal investigation of potential violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

• Representing a hedge fund before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

• Representing the former CEO and majority shareholder of a broker-dealer charged in a twenty-count indictment alleging securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements.

• Representing the Managing Partner of a hedge-fund in an SEC investigation into trade allocating.

• Representing the Chief Financial Officer in a SEC and New York Attorney General investigation into market timing of mutual funds.