skip to main content

Lowenstein Sandler LLP | The contents of this website contain attorney advertising. | Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

Search
Smart Search Icon
Header Search

Recent Searches

Clear all Searches

Relevant Insights

Featured Content

view all search results
Search Close
Hamburger
profile Icon for Mobile

Christopher W. Gerold

Partner

New Jersey
T: +1 862.926.2767 F: +1 973.597.2400 cgerold@lowenstein.com
  • BIO
  • EXPERIENCE
  • NEWS & INSIGHTS

See more section

Christopher Gerold helps clients address overlapping—and often divergent—state requirements in securities, money transmitter, lending, and other areas of financial regulation. A former chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities and president of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)—the membership organization representing all 50 U.S. state securities regulators—Chris’s background uniquely positions him to guide clients through the most challenging aspects of state securities regulation.

Chris has played a central role in shaping securities policy across the country, working directly with the leaders of every state securities agency, coordinating multi-state initiatives, and helping develop national responses to emerging risks in retail markets, fintech, and digital assets. As NASAA’s president, he became as one of the most influential voices in state securities regulation, giving him an unparalleled understanding of how state regulators set priorities, evaluate risks, and approach cross-jurisdictional coordination. Chris now brings this perspective to clients navigating the increasingly complex patchwork of state financial regulation.

Chris also served two terms as Chair of NASAA’s Enforcement Committee, where he directed complex multi-state securities investigations and enforcement actions. Under his leadership, state regulators collaborated on high-impact sweeps, shared intelligence, and implemented coordinated strategies to address nationwide threats, including fraud involving ICOs, crypto-lending products, and emerging financial technologies. His work included Operation Cryptosweep, which mobilized more than 40 state and provincial regulators in over 330 investigations and at least 85 enforcement actions—establishing NASAA as the national leader in policing digital asset misconduct.

This unique combination of national policy leadership, hands-on enforcement experience, and direct engagement with regulators in nearly every jurisdiction gives Chris unrivaled insight into how states think, how they act, and how they prioritize enforcement. Few attorneys in private practice possess comparable relationships with state securities regulators or comparable firsthand experience directing state regulatory initiatives at a national level.

Since returning to private practice, Chris has leveraged these unmatched relationships to represent broker-dealers, investment advisers, issuers, private funds, and fintech companies before every state securities regulator in the country. Clients rely on him to resolve state examinations, defend multi-state investigations and enforcement actions, navigate registration requirements, and design regulatory strategies for operating across all 50 states.

Chris’ prior experience in private practice includes serving as in the Financial Services Regulatory and Litigation Group of a leading New Jersey law firm. He began his legal career as a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General in the Securities Fraud Prosecution Section, where he was a lead trial attorney in securities fraud enforcement actions in state and administrative courts, including prosecuting such claims as penny stock manipulation, the improper sale of unregistered securities, and fraud.

  • Represent a national broker-dealer in responding to subpoenas and information requests from a coordinated multi-state task force that includes six state securities regulators. 
  • Represent a billion-dollar financial adviser team during its transition to another broker-dealer after false allegations triggered multiple state inquiries and registration issues.
  • Engaged by FINRA’s Audit Committee to conduct an independent review of its Dispute Resolution Services arbitrator selection process. The review found no evidence of an improper agreement and made recommendations for FINRA’s Audit Committee to consider adopting to improve transparency.
  • Represented a former financial advisor, who had agreed to be barred by a state and was subsequently disqualified by FINRA. Based on new state legal arguments, the settlement was re-opened, and the terms were revised to a lesser charge that did not trigger statutory disqualification, allowing the advisor to re-register.
  • Represented a cryptocurrency exchange in a coordinated multi-state investigation and subsequent litigation filed by eleven separate state regulators, each in their own jurisdiction, that included allegations of fraud. All the lawsuits were settled based on registration violations, and excluded monetary penalties, and without triggering any “bad actor” provisions of the federal securities laws.
  • Represented a real estate investment trust (REIT) to engage with state securities regulators related to registration of its securities.
  • Represented a business development company (BDC) to engage with state securities regulators related to registration of its securities.
  • Represented a former Fortune 500 CEO in a FINRA arbitration after allegations of fraud. The matter settled favorably after three weeks of hearings.
SEE MORE

Education

  • Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D.)

    Villanova University (B.S. Finance)

Admissions

  • New York
  • New Jersey

Related Areas

Subscribe