Mary E. Mulligan

Mary Mulligan is co-head of Friedman Kaplan’s white collar criminal defense practice. Over the course of her nearly 35-year career, she has handled matters involving virtually all aspects of white collar crime. She has been described by the New York Law Journal as a “heavy hitter” in the white collar defense bar and is renowned for her work representing individuals and corporations in sensitive and high-profile trials, federal and state investigations, complex litigation, and internal investigations.

Mary previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, directing investigations and prosecutions of fraud, public corruption, and financial crimes.

Today, she represents clients in connection with allegations of market manipulation, securities fraud, money laundering, insider trading, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, criminal antitrust violations, tax fraud, off-label marketing, False Claim Act violations, mail and wire fraud, public corruption, computer fraud, healthcare fraud, art forgery and theft, and other matters. She has also served as an integrity counsel to a hedge fund and as a monitor in the construction industry. She regularly conducts confidential internal investigations for companies, secondary schools, institutions of higher education, and charitable organizations. Because of the nature of Mary’s work, many of her most successful matters have not resulted in public charges and remain confidential.

Mary's white collar and investigations work has been recognized by Chambers USA since 2016, and with a "Band 1" ranking since 2023. She is also recognized as a "Leading Lawyer" in the 2024 Legal 500 United States guide.

Prior to joining Friedman Kaplan, Mary was in-house counsel at Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, handling complex civil litigation and compliance matters. Since joining the firm, she has litigated trade secret, trademark, copyright, and breach of licensing agreement cases and counsels clients in these areas.

Representative Matters

• Lead counsel in defense of the former Chief Financial Officer of Archegos Capital Management in a prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, including through a 2024 nine-week criminal trial involving charges of RICO conspiracy, securities fraud, and mail and wire fraud relating to the 2021 collapse of the family office. In related civil actions, Mary and the firm previously obtained the dismissal of a CFTC enforcement action filed in the SDNY and continue to represent the client in a related SEC enforcement action and in a case brought by a former Archegos employee.
• Represented 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.
• Represented the former first lady of an African nation in a significant Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. The case  involved allegations of money laundering and violations of the Travel Act (18 U.S.C. § 1952) in connection with the award of a mining concession valued at several billion dollars.

• Representation of the former longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization in the highly publicized New York County District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of the Trump Corporation, Trump Payroll Corporation, and our client for tax violations. Mary represented the client throughout lengthy and complicated investigations conducted by the DANY and at every stage of the proceedings, notably achieving a unique plea deal and greatly reduced sentence for her client in exchange for his truthful testimony at trial that resulted in the conviction of the Trump Organization in December 2022.  

• Represented a UK national in connection with a large and long-running investigation into whether individuals working for Greek and British medical device companies had been involved in a scheme to bribe orthopedic surgeons in Greece to use products manufactured by DePuy International, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. After a lengthy trial spanning almost three years and including the testimony of 73 witnesses, the client was acquitted of all charges. The representation was nominated by Global Investigations Review for its 2019 “Most Important Case of the Year” award.

• Representation of a prominent individual in connection with federal investigations and Congressional inquiries relating to conduct during the U.S. Presidential election in 2016.
• Representation of a number of institutions in connection with internal investigations related to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
• Represented numerous investment advisors, analysts, portfolio managers, and senior executives at hedge funds in various high-profile insider trading and securities fraud investigations and prosecutions brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Regular representation of institutions of higher education in connection with non-public matters, internal investigations, and responding to confidential state and federal inquiries.
• Represented a former senior executive of a major financial institution in connection with a publicly-reported money laundering investigation conducted by the DOJ, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and state entities into the client’s former employer.  Mary's client was not charged.
• Representation of witnesses in various high-profile investigations conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, including in connection with alleged public corruption, art fraud and theft, OFAC violations, and tax-related matters.
• Represented a prominent university and the former dean of its school of architecture in defense of civil litigation relating to a degree program the plaintiff allegedly helped to develop between the school and an international university.
• Mary and the firm conducted FCPA training for the Board of Directors of an Ivy League university.
• Represented a senior executive in connection with a confidential investigation into his alleged theft of trade secrets and intellectual property from his previous employer.
• Represented the former CEO of the Montenegro subsidiary of Magyar Telekom, a Hungarian telecommunications company, in connection with a more than four-year investigation and enforcement action by the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC into alleged FCPA violations pertaining to the company’s operations in Macedonia and Montenegro.

Outside the Office

Mary is a frequent speaker on various investigations and enforcement topics and is an active member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association. She has also been a Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she taught a white collar crime and securities fraud seminar.

Mary is a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to fight discrimination against people with histories of addiction, HIV/AIDS, or criminal records, and to advocate for sound public policies in these areas. From 2009 to 2012, she served as a commissioner of New York City's Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency which handles complaints of alleged police misconduct.