William Roth

White collar and regulatory enforcement defense:

• SEC:
  • Counsel for multiple Web3 development companies and Foundations in non-public SEC investigations, including through the Wells process, which concluded with no enforcement action
  • Counsel for Genesis Global Capital, LLC in SEC enforcement action in the Southern District of New York relating to lending and borrowing activity
  • Counsel for several cryptocurrency issuers (in the United States and abroad) in various SEC investigations regarding token issuance
• CFTC:
  • Counsel for a Layer-1 blockchain development company in connection with a CFTC investigation
• DOJ:
  • Counsel for multiple cryptocurrency companies in DOJ investigations of other parties’ alleged criminal activity
  • Trial counsel for a hedge fund portfolio manager charged with securities and wire fraud in the Eastern District of New York related to an alleged scheme to defraud certain bondholders*
  • Counsel for a unicorn biotech company in criminal investigation (and parallel SEC and civil proceedings) related to healthcare fraud, wire fraud, and consumer fraud allegations*
  • Counsel for several third-party witnesses in investigations concerning fraud, antitrust, market manipulation, and sexual misconduct*
• New York Attorney General’s Office:
  • Counsel for digital payments company in a New York State Attorney General investigation
  • Counsel for one of New York’s largest not-for-profit health insurers in multiple regulatory matters*
• Other state regulators:
  • Counsel for DeFi software developers in investigations by Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington State and Washington D.C.

Class action and commercial litigation:

• Counsel for Wintermute Trading in a class action pertaining to Celsius Networks
• Counsel for Galaxy Digital Capital Management, L.P. in a putative class action in the Northern District of California pertaining to a Galaxy portfolio company’s online video game business

• Counsel for Max Schneider in litigation in the District of Puerto Rico regarding token buyback dispute
• Counsel for an airplane financing company in litigation in the Southern District of New York concerning the aftermath of an event of default*
• Counsel to a popular travel website in litigation in the Southern District of New York relating to a contract dispute*
• Counsel for legal technology salesmen in preliminary injunction proceedings in the Southern District of New York*
• Counsel for multiple founders of digital asset projects in disputes with co-founders over ownership interests

Regulatory advisory work:

• Counsel for myriad DeFi protocols, exchanges, projects, DAOs, institutional traders, non-custodial wallet application companies, token issuers and institutional crypto liquidity providers, on SEC, CFTC, FinCEN and state regulations
• Counsel for several major foundation companies supporting DeFi communities on structuring and regulatory issues
• Counsel for various investors on regulatory diligence on cryptocurrency and blockchain aspects of significant investments
• Counsel for several foreign cryptocurrency exchanges on United States regulatory matters
• Counsel for a gaming company on the regulatory risks associated with its distribution of native gaming token
• Counsel for investment firms on SEC regulations related to commercial lending and borrowing activity

(Matters denoted by * were handled prior to joining Morrison Cohen).

Federal Bar Council, Committee on Sentencing and Alternatives to Incarceration; First Decade Committee

University Of Michigan Law School

• Editor-in-Chief, Michigan Journal of International Law
• Co-President, American Constitution Society
• Clara Belfield and Henry Bates Overseas Fellowship