Bill Leone

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has been awarded Investigations Team of the Year at the annual Transatlantic Legal Awards. The Awards, held on June 14, 1018, in London, were judged by a panel of senior editors and reporters from The American Lawyer and Legal Week and recognise firms for their excellence in advising on complex matters spanning the US and the UK. NAFUSA member Bill Leone lead the U.S. based criminal and civil securities defense effort for the Norton Rose Fulbright team.

The Investigations Team of the Year award recognises the firm’s successful defence of a senior banking executive in multi-jurisdictional criminal and civil proceedings arising out of the JP Morgan “London Whale” case, which included investigations and proceedings brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), and extradition proceedings in Spain.

Following over five years of investigations and proceedings in the United States and Europe, in August 2017 the DOJ and the SEC dismissed all criminal charges and civil claims against the firm’s client, Javier Martin-Artajo, a former senior executive at JP Morgan. The allegations related to events in 2012 in connection with what has been referred to in the press as the “London Whale” trading losses.

The U.S. government’s decision, which came following four years of civil proceedings involving the disclosure of millions of pages of documents, depositions of over 35 fact witnesses in the U.S. and Europe, and the government carefully analysing the evidence, completely vindicated Mr Martin-Artajo’s position and reflects the strength of his defence which he has consistently maintained from the outset of this matter in 2012.