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Melissa Madrigal

Partner
Melissa Madrigal's headshot
Melissa Madrigal Partner

Melissa Madrigal is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice focuses on federal white collar criminal defense, government and internal investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory compliance. She routinely advises and defends clients throughout the country in complex, high-stakes investigations, indicted cases and other crisis situations.

Clients rely on Melissa’s counsel in matters involving a broad array of criminal statutes including securities fraud, healthcare fraud, wire and mail fraud, conspiracy, tax fraud, money laundering, sanctions violations, racketeering, government contracting fraud, aggravated identity theft, fish and wildlife offenses, obstruction of justice and narcotics trafficking. She routinely represents individuals and companies across various industries in federal courts.

A Cuban-American and native Spanish speaker, Melissa maintains an active practice advising and representing Latin American clients in U.S. matters that implicate regulatory and criminal concerns. She is known for her creative approach to problem solving and has served as a strategic adviser to her business clients, including overseeing and implementing strategy in multi-jurisdiction investigations and litigation. She also has criminal appellate experience and has represented clients before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Melissa started her legal career as a litigator at a boutique white collar firm in her hometown of Miami. For the last 10 years, she has resided in New York City and continues to focus her practice on white collar matters, most recently as a partner in the New York City office of an international law firm.

Experience

Prior to joining Morrison Cohen

  • Represented CEO of highly successful reputation management company who was target of grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York for fraudulently filing defamation lawsuits and procuring judgments ordering removal of online consumer complaints. After several presentations to the government, the investigation was closed.
  • Represented Chinese national in criminal prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of violating the U.S. Iran sanctions program. Obtained a six-month sentence of time served – one of the most lenient sentences ever imposed in such a prosecution.
  • Negotiated a deferred prosecution agreement for client charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with operating an unlawful money transmitting business.
  • Successfully represented a Big Tech executive in an internal investigation related to insider trading.
  • Represented client under investigation for orchestrating a money laundering scheme related to an indicted case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which resulted in charges not being filed against the client.
  • Successfully represented client in tax evasion investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida related to client’s operation and sale of multiple professional employer organizations. The case was favorably resolved with the matter being transferred to the IRS’s civil tax division for resolution. 
  • Successfully negotiated settlement of government restitution and forfeiture judgment in the amount of $59 million down to $7 million in a Lacey Act case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  
  • Represented hedge fund portfolio manager in two-week criminal trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on securities fraud charges, alleging that client mismarked the securities of a multibillion-dollar hedge fund.
  • Represented information technology employee in bitcoin-exchange fraud and bank bribery trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented a cryptocurrency company and its c-suite executives in a federal grand jury investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York regarding manipulative trading of cryptocurrency on the exchange and the use of unlawful incentives to boost trading volume in anticipation of an ETF application with the SEC.
  • Represented former New York City mayor in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented lead defendant in seven-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida involving a $205 million Medicare scheme related to the operation of partial hospitalization programs throughout South Florida.
  • Represented Miami-based online invention marketing company and its CEO in parallel investigations by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and class action litigation brought in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented Chief Financial Officer of public company in corporate internal investigation and parallel SEC and DOJ investigations relating to accounting fraud.
  • Represented the lead defendant on appeal in the largest health care/no-fault automobile insurance fraud scheme prosecuted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
  • Represented client charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey in a $99 million healthcare fraud and tax evasion scheme related to his ownership of a specialty pharmacy.
  • Represented former Defense Minister of Central American country in dispute with political magazine over defamatory article. Succeeded in persuading the publication to edit the article to remove the defamatory material.
  • Represented physician at trial charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with unlawful distribution of oxycodone and fentanyl.
  • Represented an executive of a public company at sentencing and on appeal in connection with prosecution of a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Secured a below-Guidelines sentence after being retained to represent client after guilty verdict at trial.
  • Represented a lead defendant at sentencing and on appeal in the largest Ponzi scheme prosecuted on Long Island.
  • Represented individual at sentencing charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with a nationwide scheme to divert and resell specialty pharmaceuticals.
  • Represented high-level bank executive charged in multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
  • Represented a victim of sex trafficking in a case prosecuted by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Succeeded in preventing prostitution charges and secured a T-visa residency status for the client as a non-immigrant victim of human trafficking.

Professional Activities

Member, New York Council of Defense Lawyers
Member, Women’s White Collar Defense Association (Florida and New York City Chapters)

Recognition

Benchmark Litigation, Future Star (2021-present)

Lawyers of Color, Wonderful Women (2023)

News & Publications

Contributor, Abortion in America: How Legislative Overreach Is Turning Reproductive Rights Into Criminal Wrongs, NACDL Report, August 2021

Author, “Preparing for Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19,” May 21, 2020

Author, “Government Investigations of Senior Executives Checklist: Employer Considerations,” Lexis Practice Advisor Note

Melissa Madrigal's headshot

Education

  • Florida International University, J.D.
  • Florida International University, B.A. cum laude

Bar Admissions

  • New York
  • Florida
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, Middle, District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Media & Insights