Jeff Severson is a counsel in Crowell & Moring's San Francisco and New York offices, where he is a member of the White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement Group. Jeff's white collar practice focuses on representing individuals and a wide variety of corporate clients during investigations by the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, FINRA, and other government agencies. In particular, he has experience with allegations related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud, and residential mortgage-backed securities fraud.
The breadth of Jeff’s practice is illustrated in the following examples of his work representing:
- A senior banker in connection with a multinational FCPA investigation.
- A pool of employees at a publicly traded pharmaceutical company as part of a DOJ health care fraud investigation.
- Multiple broker-dealers in FINRA enforcement actions.
- A global engineering company in an internal investigation of antitrust allegations.
- Multiple traders as part of SEC securities fraud investigations.
- A trader as part of a DOJ and SEC insider trading investigation.
- Employees of international financial institutions as part of a SEC RMBS investigation.
- Senior traders as part of a CFTC ISDAfix investigation.
In addition, Jeff has experience with corporate matters, including representing public and private companies in domestic and international mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, internal re-organizations, private equity investments, public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, and general corporate counseling. On corporate matters, Jeff has advised:
- An international corporation as part of its $38M dollar acquisition of a leading boot-specialty brand.
- A subsidiary of a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed corporation as part of an internal re-organization.
Jeff also maintains an active pro bono practice and focuses on representing clients in asylum and refugee resettlement proceedings, including:
- Rwandan and Iraqi individuals in successful asylum applications.
- An Iraqi refugee in a successful petition for medical needs resettlement.
- Multiple indigent criminal defendants in the SDNY as part of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel in cases ranging from narcotics trafficking to criminal fraud
In law school, Jeff was a Stein Scholar for the Public Interest, a Crowley Scholar in International Human Rights, and the senior articles editor for the Fordham International Law Journal. Prior to law school, Jeff worked for a prominent international human rights organization.
Affiliations
Admitted to practice: California, New York, Colorado, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Publications
Client Alerts & Newsletters
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"SEC Enforcement Warms Up: Commission Creates Climate and ESG Task Force,"
Administrative Law Alert
(March 5, 2021).
Contacts: Daniel L. Zelenko, Jeff Severson, Rebecca Lennon Baskin, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Monty Cooper
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"I Can’t Get No (Retroactive) Relief,"
White Collar Alert
(June 8, 2018).
Contacts: Rebecca Monck Ricigliano, Derek A. Hahn, Thomas A. Hanusik, Jeff Severson
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"Avoiding Compliance Red Cards After the FIFA Scandal: Anti-Corruption Considerations for Sponsors and Sports Marketing Companies,"
Advertising & State AG Alert
(June 8, 2015).
Contacts: David Ervin, Christopher A. Cole, Glen G. McGorty, Stephen M. Byers, Jeff Severson
Firm News & Announcements