Lowenstein Sandler announced today that Rachel Maimin, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and H. Gregory Baker, a former Senior Counsel in the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement Asset Management Unit, have joined the firm as partners in its New York office.
Baker has joined the Capital Markets Litigation and White Collar Defense practices. Due to his asset management background, he will also devote time to Lowenstein’s Investment Management practice to advise the firm’s investment fund clients. Maimin will join the firm’s White Collar Criminal Defense practice. Baker and Maimin are the latest seasoned government lawyers and prosecutors to join these fast-growing practices.
“Our White Collar and Capital Markets Litigation groups were already in elite company as far as numbers and experience, but we are doubling down by adding Rachel and Greg,” said Christopher Porrino, Chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s Litigation department. “Rachel’s background includes some of the most noteworthy cases in New York and around the globe, and Greg’s work with the SEC has involved some of the most cutting-edge subjects that our fintech and investment fund clients currently face. They’re both great additions to our team.”
Maimin was most recently a senior member of the SDNY team that investigated and prosecuted Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney who pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including five related to tax evasion.
She spent nearly a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District, where she focused on organized crime and public corruption. She has extensive experience with complex financial crimes (particularly those related to public integrity) and with large, multifaceted criminal organizations engaged in racketeering, narcotics, and money laundering.
Maimin led the largest-ever gang investigation and prosecution in New York history, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of 120 gang members on racketeering and firearms offenses. She also prosecuted more than 80 leaders and associates of the Trinitarios gang in the Bronx–work that earned her the U.S. Attorney General’s 2017 David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service, the Department of Justice’s highest honor.
“I cannot wait to support the firm’s Litigation and White Collar groups,” Maimin said. “The genuine collegiality permeating Lowenstein’s culture and practices, in addition to the talent and experience its lawyers bring to the table, is something I’m truly excited to be a part of.”
Maimin received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard University. Prior to joining SDNY, she was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. She also clerked for the Honorable Joseph F. Bianco of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Baker, who worked in the Asset Management Unit of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, brings extensive experience investigating and litigating SEC enforcement matters concerning hedge fund valuations, private equity fee disclosures, compliance violations, performance advertising, insider trading, dividend arbitrage, and accounting violations. He was instrumental in bringing the SEC’s first enforcement action filed against a robo-advisor, which alleged violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 for issuing misleading performance advertisements.
Baker’s other notable enforcement actions included the fraudulent mismarking of mortgage-backed securities by principals and traders at a registered investment advisor and a fraudulent scheme by certain company insiders to take undisclosed control of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of publicly traded stock of a Fortune 500 company, both of which led to parallel criminal actions brought by the SDNY.
He has worked extensively with the DOJ, the FBI, the IRS, and other federal agencies in his investigations, and his outstanding achievements in investigative work earned him four Directors’ Awards from the Division of Enforcement.
“I am honored to be joining such a forward-thinking, dynamic firm. I look forward to contributing to both the White Collar and Capital Markets Litigation teams and to working with clients across a range of industries to resolve their securities-related issues,” Baker said.
“We cannot think of a better addition than Greg to join the Capital Markets Litigation team,” said Zachary D. Rosenbaum, Chair of the practice. “His combination of prosecutorial experience, knowledge of securities law, and understanding of how financial markets operate makes him ideal for effectively representing our institutional investor clients and for providing practical guidance to the firm’s investment fund clients.”
Baker received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from Amherst College. Prior to joining the SEC, Baker was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. He previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Walls of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
The White Collar group, chaired by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael B. Himmel, and the Capital Markets Litigation practice have added other top-tier arrivals over the past 18 months, including partner Porrino (former Attorney General of New Jersey); partner Ryan M. Wilson (former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York); partner Peter Slocum (former First Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey); special counsel Elie Honig (former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York; former Director, Department of Law and Public Safety, New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice); special counsel Anne M. Milgram (former Attorney General of New Jersey); counsel Kathleen A. McGee (former Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Internet and Technology, New York State Attorney General’s Office); and associate Shontae D. Gray (former Deputy Attorney General of New Jersey).
Partner Scott B. McBride (former Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey; former Deputy Chief, Economic Crimes Unit; former member, Health Care & Government Fraud Unit) joined the firm in 2016, and partner Matthew Boxer (former New Jersey State Comptroller; former Director, New Jersey’s Authorities Unit; former federal prosecutor, Terrorism Unit, Criminal Division, and Special Prosecutions Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office) joined in 2014.