Eugene Goldman is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm's Washington, D.C. office. He is co-chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Defense group. Eugene represents domestic and international clients before the SEC in financial fraud, false disclosure, insider trading and other securities enforcement proceedings. Eugene also represents clients in shareholder litigation and FCPA and other internal investigations. He is a member of the Securities Litigation Advisory Committee of the National Chamber Litigation Center.
Eugene regularly counsels clients on trading and disclosure issues, and on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, with emphasis on auditor independence issues and tax and other non-audit services.
Eugene previously served as senior counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. He directed prosecutions in a wide variety of areas, including insider trading, undisclosed self-dealing, the sale of unregistered securities, undisclosed underwriters compensation and questionable foreign payments.
Among other representations, Eugene has acted on behalf of company executives in revenue recognition and "cookie jar reserve" investigations; a major industrial company in a public earnings statement investigation; foreign auditing firms in financial fraud and foreign payments investigations and class action litigation; a mutual fund president and portfolio manager in an Investment Company Act investigation; a major brokerage firm in an Investment Advisers Act investigation; a hedge fund director in a “PIPES” investigation, and the vice president of an entertainment company and a named partner of a New York law firm in insider trading investigations. Eugene successfully helped defend a senior vice president for finance in a federal criminal securities fraud case, U.S. v. DeGennaro, 419 F. 3d 134 (2d Cir. 2007). Eugene was lead counsel to the City of Anaheim in the Orange County Pool case, In the Matter of City of Anaheim, City of Irvine, et al., SEC A.P. File No. 3-9739 (1998), which involved disclosure issues stemming from the investment of proceeds from municipal securities offerings.
Eugene was ranked as a "Star" in securities by Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys (3rd edition, Oct. 2009), based on lawyers in each state who were recommended consistently by clients and peers.
Eugene spoke on securities fraud enforcement at the ABA’s 20th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime 2006 in San Francisco.
At the invitation of Chairman Christopher Dodd, Eugene testified before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities regarding enforcement and litigation issues. Abandonment of the Private Right of Action for Aiding and Abetting Securities Fraud: Hearing Before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Securities of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, 103rd Cong., 2nd Sess. (1994).
Eugene has conducted analyses of decisions rendered by SEC Administrative Law Judges. The National Law Journal featured the analyses in its October 22, 1998, edition (SEC Has No Home Court Advantage) and in its August 7, 2000, edition (Challenging The SEC Pays Off).
In 1986, Eugene took a sabbatical from private practice to become one of the first two law clerks to Judge Stanley Sporkin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Sporkin previously served as director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
For seven years, Eugene chaired the Pro Bono Committee of McDermott’s Washington, D.C., office, and continues to litigate disabilities rights cases with co-counsel from the D.C. Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Eugene is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Education
- Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, J.D., 1977
- American University, B.A. (with honors), 1973
