Matthew A. Rossi

Matthew Rossi represents investment advisers, broker-dealers, and public companies, along with their officers, directors, and employees in government investigations, enforcement actions, and compliance matters.

With over 30 years of experience, including as a federal court litigator and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement lawyer, Matt is skilled at de-escalating investigations and powerfully advocating on the client’s behalf.

Proactive in his approach, Matt helps businesses understand their compliance obligations to prevent potential violations before they occur. However, if they do occur, he fiercely defends clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the SEC, Department of Justice (DOJ), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and other securities regulators. These investigations frequently focus on allegations of insider trading, foreign bribery, money laundering, breaches of fiduciary duty, offering fraud, misleading disclosures, conflicts of interest and employee misconduct.

Matt’s goal is always to obtain the prompt closure of an investigation without charge when possible, but to be positioned to provide a well-crafted defense if formal charges are made. By actively listening to his clients and understanding their business, he shapes strategies and designs compliance programs to protect and minimize their risk and exposure.

While at the SEC, Matt served as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Enforcement Division, where he investigated and litigated violations of the federal securities laws by investment advisers, broker-dealers, large financial institutions and others. Before this role, he served as Senior Counsel in the SEC’s Asset Management Unit, a specialized unit within the Enforcement Division that investigates misconduct by investment advisers, private funds and registered investment companies.

Experience

• Led four large investment advisers through an SEC enforcement investigation into potential violations of the SEC pay-to-play rule which resulted in no charges against any of the advisers or their personnel.
• Guided a U.S.-registered investment adviser and its participating affiliate outside the U.S. in an SEC inquiry into potential undisclosed conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty that resulted in no charges against the adviser and its personnel.
• Represented the chief executive officer of a public energy company in an SEC accounting fraud and restatement investigation, which concluded with no charges against the CEO and a public statement from the SEC that there was no personal misconduct by the CEO.
• Successfully represented the chief operating officer of a public company in an SEC investigation concerning allegedly misleading public disclosures resulting in no charge against the officer.
• Represented a securities dealer in an SEC investigation into an alleged multi-year insider trading scheme that resulted in no charges against the client.