Hopkins, James T

Jay Holtmeier is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department, and a member of the Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice Group and the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Working Group. He joined the firm in 2004.

Practice

Mr. Holtmeier’s breadth of experience as a litigator includes service as a federal prosecutor, a senior in-house attorney and a lawyer in private practice. Mr. Holtmeier represents institutions and individuals in complex government and internal investigations and matters of corporate governance and compliance. He has particular expertise in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In FCPA matters, Mr. Holtmeier has represented clients in government and internal investigations involving conduct in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Australia. He regularly counsels clients facing difficult FCPA issues in a variety of business contexts, and he has assisted clients in numerous industries in developing and implementing FCPA compliance programs. He devotes substantial attention to advising clients on FCPA problems that arise in the context of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate transactions. He writes and speaks extensively on the subject and is a co-author, with partners Roger Witten and Kimberly Parker, of the leading treatise in the field, Complying with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (7th ed. 2010).  

As a senior vice president and principal legal counsel with the Reuters Group, Mr. Holtmeier was responsible for all litigation and compliance matters in North and South America. As an assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he tried several cases to verdict and led extensive grand jury investigations of various crimes, including racketeering, securities fraud, murder, narcotics and counterfeiting. Significant prosecutions included United States v. Jose Muyet, et al., and United States v. Ronald Ocasio, et al., related cases involving more than twenty murders, for which Mr. Holtmeier received the Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Executive Office for US Attorneys, and United States v. Carol Bayless, which received national attention and calls for the impeachment of the presiding US District Judge.

Current Matters and Recent Highlights

• Representation of a global manufacturer in investigations by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Treasury, Department of Commerce and the US Navy involving allegations of improper kickbacks under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program, violations of the FCPA and violations of US export laws.
• Representation of a global airline in an investigation by the DOJ of violations of the FCPA and Travel Act.
• Representation of the chief executive officer of a public company in an investigation by the DOJ and SEC of violations of the FCPA and US sanctions laws.
• Representation of a major accounting firm in SEC investigations relating to alleged finance reporting fraud at two financial institution clients.
• Representation of the audit committee of a national food distributor in an investigation by the SEC into allegations of improper accounting.
• Representation of the chief executive officer of a large newspaper in an Eastern District of New York grand jury investigation.
• Representation of an accounting firm in investigations by the DOJ, the SEC, the PCAOB and the New York Attorney General into alleged financial reporting fraud at a major financial institution.
• Representation of numerous companies in the pharmaceutical, financial services, media, manufacturing and other industries in numerous corporate internal investigations.

Professional Activities

Mr. Holtmeier is the Chairman of the Board of the New York City Bar Justice Center, the nonprofit legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association.