Biography
Jeffrey Alberts is the head of Pryor Cashman's White Collar Defense and Investigations practice in the United States. Jeffrey’s practice focuses on government investigations and prosecutions and related regulatory proceedings, asset forfeiture litigation, victims’ rights representation, and complex civil litigation. Jeffrey is an experienced trial lawyer who has served as lead counsel in numerous trials, including civil and criminal federal jury trials, state jury trials, and state and federal bench trials.
Since Jeffrey joined the firm in 2013, he has handled a variety of significant matters related to asset forfeiture and money laundering. These matters included testifying as an expert on U.S. asset forfeiture and money laundering law in a civil forfeiture proceeding in the Royal Court of the Bailiwick of Jersey in which the U.S. government sought to forfeit several hundred million dollars in properties that allegedly were involved in international money laundering transactions. Jeffrey also represented a client before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a successful challenge to the government’s pretrial restraint of bank deposits and other property. He also served as lead forfeiture counsel in a securities fraud prosecution in which the government sought to forfeit over $180 million in assets.
Immediately prior to joining the firm, Jeffrey spent six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of white collar criminal offenses, including securities fraud, bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and money laundering. Jeffrey served for several years in the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was lead counsel in numerous civil and criminal asset forfeiture actions and civil money laundering cases.
While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jeffrey played an instrumental role in several high profile cases, including asset forfeiture proceedings involving proceeds of the securities fraud that Marc Dreier executed using the law firm Dreier LLP, the fraud scheme at the financial services company Refco, Inc., and the securities fraud committed by Samuel Israel at the hedge fund known as the Bayou Funds. Jeffrey also received international recognition for successfully representing the U.S. Government in an asset forfeiture jury trial concerning a stolen artwork created by the renowned artist Camille Pissarro and returning the artwork to the French Government.
For his role in the prosecution of Marc Dreier, Jeffrey was awarded the 2010 Department of Justice John Marshall Award, the Department’s highest award for legal excellence. Jeffrey also was the recipient of the 2009 Department of Justice National Asset Forfeiture Award for his role in the forfeiture of over $500 million in proceeds of the fraud at Refco, Inc.