Eric Corngold

Eric Corngold, co-head of Friedman Kaplan’s white collar practice, is well known for his work guiding and defending companies through regulatory and criminal investigations and enforcement matters. Prior to joining Friedman Kaplan in 2010, Eric built a tremendous reputation as a public prosecutor in New York. Today, he puts the insight into the enforcement perspective that he gained through twenty years of public service to work representing businesses, their executives, and their employees during federal and state criminal investigations, as well as in regulatory matters involving the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Attorney General’s Office, and other federal and state government agencies. He also conducts internal investigations for corporations and other institutions on behalf of officers, boards of directors, and audit committees.

Eric served as New York State’s Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice from 2007 to 2009, acting as the principal advisor to the New York Attorney General on litigation and policy concerning financial markets, antitrust matters, corporate and consumer fraud, and housing. In this role, he led broad-ranging initiatives including the office’s auction rate securities investigation, which resulted in settlements with eleven major international financial institutions, returning more than $51 billion to investors and resulting in over $597 million in fines, and the office’s civil action against Intel Corporation, the largest government antitrust case brought in that time period.

Prior to his time in the New York Attorney General’s Office, Eric was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York for more than a decade, including serving as the office’s Chief Assistant United States Attorney from 2005 to 2007 and the Chief of the office’s Business and Securities Frauds Unit from 1999 to 2005, where he guided groundbreaking prosecutions of Computer Associates International, Inc., Symbol Technologies, Inc., and the companies’ senior executives.

Representative Matters

• Representation of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in connection with the major multi-year investigation conducted by a task force appointed by Governor Phil Murphy pertaining to the EDA’s internal administration of certain state tax incentive programs, including whether $11 billion worth of tax credits awarded to corporations doing business in New Jersey resulted in true value to the state and its residents.
• Representation of the State of New Jersey and its governor in defense of a purported whistleblower and defamation suit brought by a former state employee who claims he was fired for complaining about prioritizing procurement of COVID-19 tests for a high-ranking official’s family.
• Representation of the owner and operator of a number of online platforms in a sprawling, multi-year investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York involving one of the most visited websites in the world. The firm achieved an extremely favorable resolution resulting in no criminal charges being brought against our client and helped it implement state-of-the-art compliance programs, internal controls, and other important trust and safety measures.
• Representation of a multinational food corporation in obtaining a complete victory following a two-week trial involving an enforcement action and multi-year investigation by the New York Attorney General into wage violations by its franchisees.
• Representation of Chuck Blazer, the founder of organized American soccer, relating to FIFA, the international soccer organization, in connection with investigations by the FBI, DOJ, and IRS.
• Representation of the Executive Director of the New York Port Authority as a major witness in the high-profile “Bridgegate” scandal, a four-day traffic shutdown that caused colossal delays at the George Washington Bridge.
• Regular representation of a major global media and publications company in a variety of white collar and investigations matter, including internal investigations, FCPA compliance, and other regulatory matters.
• Eric and the firm conducted an internal investigation on behalf of the Audit Committee of a NYSE-listed consumer financial services company in connection with the Committee’s review of the company’s previously issued financial statements.
• Representation of a housing development company in a regulatory enforcement investigation with respect to certain of its properties. No charges were brought against our client.
• Representation of a digital advertising agency in investigations by the New York Attorney General and San Diego County District Attorney for allegedly posting fake comments in support of the proposed repeal of the FCC rules governing net neutrality adopted during the Obama Administration.
• Representation of a major biopharmaceutical company in connection with a large criminal and civil investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York into the company’s marketing of an anemia drug.

Outside the Office

Eric is the Chairman of the New York State University Construction Fund and a member of the Board of Trustees of SUNY, New York State’s network of public universities, where he serves as Chair of the Board’s Academic Medical Centers/Hospitals Committee and as a member of the Board’s Audit Committee. Eric was twice nominated (in 2016 and 2017) to serve on New York’s Court of Appeals. For the past twenty years, Eric has taught courses on white collar crime law as an adjunct Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law.