Leen, David A.

Peter K. Vigeland is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department. In that department, he is a member of the Business Trial Group, the Investigations and Criminal Litigation Group, and the Securities Litigation Group. He joined the firm in 2001. Mr. Vigeland is an experienced trial lawyer and former Chief of the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney's Office in New York.

Practice

Mr. Vigeland joined the United States Attorney's Office in New York as an Assistant US Attorney in 1989 and served as Chief of the Major Crimes Unit from 1994 to 1996. There he supervised approximately 25 attorneys investigating and prosecuting white collar crimes, principally in the areas of bank fraud, tax fraud and money laundering, and tried numerous cases to verdict.

Since entering private practice, Mr. Vigeland has continued to try cases. He also has handled and supervised class action litigation in a variety of substantive areas, including securities fraud, prime brokerage cases, "vanishing premium," and common-law fraud claims. He handles and tries complex commercial cases in federal and New York state courts and in AAA and FINRA arbitrations. In addition, he has represented numerous targets and subjects of grand jury investigations and has handled numerous internal investigations.

Recent Highlights

• Defending investment advisor in AAA arbitration hearing against investors claiming fraud
• Defending investment bank in FINRA arbitration hearing against claims by hedge fund that its prime brokerage unit interfered with its trading after the Lehman bankruptcy
• Representing the chairman of a major African bank in a federal investigation of money laundering and wire fraud
• Representing former bank official in federal investigation of tax fraud arising from KPMG's marketing of alleged tax shelters to high net worth individuals
• Representing Credit Suisse First Boston in various class action litigation over alleged IPO practices
• Representing American Express and its affiliates in various class actions alleging fraud in connection with their financial planning and sale of American Express financial products

Professional Activities

Mr. Vigeland is a director of the Federal Bar Foundation and a member of the Federal Bar Council. He is also a member of the New York City Bar Association's Council on Criminal Justice and White Collar Criminal Law Committee, and he serves on the board of directors of Volunteers of Legal Service.

Honors and Awards

• Selected by peers for inclusion in each edition of The Best Lawyers in America from 2005 to 2012
• Recognized as a "Super Lawyer" in the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of New York Super Lawyers - Metro