Adam C. Ford is a thoughtful tactician and an indefatigable fighter who represents individuals and corporations engaged in high-stakes civil and criminal litigation, as well as regulatory investigations and enforcement actions.

Adam has extensive experience representing defendants in both state and federal courts in every aspect of white collar prosecutions and regulatory enforcement actions from investigation through appeal and has handled major matters involving allegations of securities, wire, mail, and accounting fraud, money laundering, FCPA and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) violations, insider trading, cherry-picking, pump and dump schemes, obstruction of justice, false statements, food and drug misbranding, and tax offenses, among others.

Adam has expertly guided clients through various regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings, many involving complex and novel theories, instituted by the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, Department of Justice, various Attorneys General Offices, District Attorneys Offices, Federal Reserve Board, and State Tax Departments.

Adam’s practice also extends to representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of complex commercial disputes, initiating and defending actions involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, employment law and business and partnership disputes.

Adam also has extensive experience conducting internal investigations on behalf of companies and institutions, including a review into the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular disclosures made regarding Puerto Rico municipal bond holdings in the lead up to Puerto Rico’s financial crises.

Some recent matters include:

obtaining dismissal of a federal indictment charging a $17 million pump and dump schemeconvincing the New Jersey Attorney General’s office not to bring any charges against large financial advisers following a two-year investigation into the sufficiency of its disclosures of Puerto Rico board holdingssuccessfully convincing the SEC to drop any claims for disgorgement and civil penalties connected to an alleged $20 million securities fraudrepresenting a large investment advisory being a major bank in connection with recouping a multi-million dollar loan it was fraudulently induced into makingrepresenting HSBC employees being investigated for their potential involvement in OFAC and money laundering violationsrepresenting a stock broker being investigated by the SEC in connection with offering a Private Placement Programrepresenting a senior scientist at a major U.S. pharmaceutical company in a federal criminal investigation of potential violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Actrepresenting a hedge fund before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission; a trader defending an investigation by the CFTCrepresenting the former CEO and majority shareholder of a broker-dealer charged in a twenty-count indictment alleging securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and making false statementsrepresenting the Managing Partner of a hedge-fund in an SEC investigation into trade allocatingrepresenting the Chief Financial Officer in a SEC and New York Attorney General investigation into market timing of mutual funds

Adam frequently lectures on various legal issues including the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine, and joint defense agreements, as well as persuasive legal writing. He has contributed to panel lectures at the ABA’s annual White Collar Crime Conference on topics including: international criminal investigations and evidence gathering; representing clients in SEC investigations and the effects of recent SEC Guidelines; and defending clients accused of Ponzi schemes. Adam was previously an adjunct professor of legal research and writing at Brooklyn Law School.

Adam received his undergraduate education from the University of Pittsburgh, graduating cum laude, in 1997. In 2000, he went on to study International Criminal Law and International Trade at the American University of Cairo, Egypt. He graduated, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2002. Adam clerked for Magistrate Judge A. Simon Chrein in the Eastern District of New York. He is admitted to the bars of New York, New Jersey, and in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Adam is also the author of, Vermouth: The Revival of the Spirit the Created America’s Cocktail Culture; The Countryman Press, 2015, and the founder and creator of Atsby New York Vermouth.