Skadden Arps partner David Meister has been named head of enforcement at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The CFTC’s director of enforcement oversees the investigation of instances of alleged fraud, market manipulation and abusive trading practices. The CFTC’s largest enforcement action to date was in 2007, a $303 million settlement with BP for charges of manipulating propane markets.
Meister is a partner in Skadden’s white collar crime practice. A former federal prosecutor, Meister has more than 20 years of white collar experience. He represents financial institutions, other corporations and their senior executives in criminal, enforcement and regulatory matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, state attorneys general, and other federal and state regulators. He has extensive experience conducting internal investigations for boards of directors and board committees concerning fraud, corruption, bank sanctions, money laundering and other potential corporate misdeeds. Mr. Meister has been lead counsel in numerous federal criminal jury trials.
Notable cases include his representation of John Landes, who was the general counsel of ImClone when Martha Stewart was accused of trading its shares on inside information. Additionally, as a US prosecutor in the 1990s, he won a guilty verdict in a case of inside trading on stocks of Motel 6, the US hospitality chain.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates was founded in 1948, and is a prominent law firm based in New York City. With over 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms in the world.
