Brad Bondi

Litigation Department

Brad Bondi is Global Co-Chair of the Investigations and White Collar Defense practice at Paul Hastings and a nationally recognized litigation partner. He focuses on securities and financial investigations (SEC and DOJ) and securities and complex litigation. He also advises boards of directors and audit committees concerning significant governance matters. He is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and New York offices.

The publication Law360 recognized Brad as a national MVP in white collar in 2022, 2021, and 2019, Benchmark Litigation lists him as “national practice area star” in both securities and white collar, and The National Law Journal named him a Washington D.C. Trailblazer in 2020 to recognize his significant contributions to the field of securities law. The National Association of Corporate Directors has twice honored him for his work in the board room. Securities Docket describes Brad as “the first choice among Boards of Directors and Audit Committees of the Fortune 500 when their company is faced with SEC or DOJ problems.”

Mr. Bondi has two decades of experience representing and counseling companies, financial institutions, boards of directors, audit committees, and senior executives in a broad range of investigations and complex business litigation, with an emphasis on securities and financial regulations and corporate governance matters. He previously held senior positions in government, including at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Bondi leads the representation of significant legal matters including major litigation in trial and appellate courts and in arbitrations (securities litigation, derivative litigation, and complex business litigation), SEC, FINRA, and PCAOB enforcement matters, criminal inquiries (including FCPA, DOJ, and USAO matters), and various investigations (including independent investigations overseen by audit committees and special committees).

Mr. Bondi regularly serves as a senior advisor to boards of directors, audit committees, special committees, independent directors, and senior executives during corporate crises, significant transactions, and governance challenges. He has guided boards and board committees through the most extraordinary corporate events, including independent investigations, defense of derivative lawsuits against directors and officers, class actions, accounting irregularities and Restatements, auditor disputes, hostile takeover attempts and activist shareholders, mergers and acquisitions disputes, cyber intrusions and data breaches, and investigations of alleged misconduct by executives.

Mr. Bondi advises clients in connection with regulatory enforcement actions, private lawsuits, and governmental and congressional investigations arising from suspected violations of securities laws, accounting irregularities, auditor disputes, internal controls, market manipulation, revenue recognition issues, tax-related matters, insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other commercial bribery law compliance, matters involving LIBOR and other reference rates, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Acts, potential antitrust concerns, and cybersecurity. He also oversees complex civil and criminal litigation, such as securities litigation, corporate control litigation, commercial litigation, contractual disputes, arbitrations, and criminal proceedings. Mr. Bondi has litigated significant legal disputes in various state and federal courts, including serving as counsel of record for successful briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States: for an investment bank in Credit Suisse First Boston Ltd. v. Billing (interpreting securities laws as implicitly precluding the application of antitrust laws in the IPO process) and for an amicus curiae in Yates v. United States (construing Sarbanes-Oxley’s criminal provision for document destruction, 18 U.S.C. § 1519). He also served as counsel of record for an amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court of the United States in Salman v. United States (concerning the personal benefit element of insider trading law) and Liu v. SEC (concerning the SEC’s authority to seek disgorgement), and he has advised on other cases before the Court.

Mr. Bondi regularly advises financial institutions, including banking institutions, broker-dealers, investment advisers, mutual funds, and hedge funds, and their respective boards on issues relating to compliance with securities laws, criminal laws, SEC and FINRA rules, and governance requirements.

Mr. Bondi defends clients in enforcement actions, prosecutions, and investigations initiated by federal and state agencies and departments, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), United States Attorneys and grand juries, State Attorneys General, Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC), Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Reserve, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On occasion, he has served as an expert witness regarding issues relating to securities law and insider trading law.

Mr. Bondi earned his LL.M., with distinction, in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center, where he finished with an unprecedented perfect grade-point average and seven book awards. He received Georgetown's Thomas Bradbury Chetwood, S.J. Prize for having the best academic record in his class. Mr. Bondi earned his J.D., with high honors, Order of the Coif, and Intramural Best Trial Advocate, M.B.A. (dual concentrations in both Finance and Management), and B.S., with highest honors, the Outstanding Male Graduate, Beta Gamma Sigma, and undergraduate honors program, from the University of Florida. He was admitted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame, received numerous academic and leadership awards, and finished in the top of the class in each academic degree while matriculating early. In addition, Mr. Bondi studied at Oxford University for a semester during law school; he earned a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University and a Certificate in Management Excellence from Harvard Business School. In 2020, Mr. Bondi received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, recognizing him for typifying the UF Law ethos of excellence through professional achievement.