Hon. Kenneth Conboy retired from the partnership in December 2011. He is a former United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. His practice focused primarily in the securities, corporate governance, antitrust and federal regulatory and prosecutorial enforcement areas. He is also broadly experienced in litigation related to the federal corrupt practices act, racketeering, bank fraud and money laundering under the federal criminal statutes. He was appointed, on consent of the board of directors of Prudential Securities, Inc., by the US Department of Justice to be Government monitor and board member in connection with effecting broad legal and compliance reforms in the wake of the limited partnerships scandal. He was also appointed, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, International Appeals Master of the United Brotherhood of Teamsters, and supervised three nationwide elections for General President of the Teamsters.
Mr. Conboy represented:
- The Carlyle Group in class action antitrust litigation brought against thirteen private equity companies in federal court in Boston;
- The Board of Directors of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in antitrust, securities and pricing and sales practices investigations by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States attorneys for the District of New Jersey and the District of Massachusetts; and in securities related derivative litigation in federal and state courts, and in corporate governance matters and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance;
- The Independent Directors of Doral Financial Corporation in the conduct of an internal investigation related to issues arising under Section 10A of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act and the Bank’s response to and resolution of inquiries of the Federal Reserve Bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and in the subsequent sale of the Corporation to a consortium of private investors;
- Tenet Healthcare Corporation, in investigations being conducted by the Department of Justice, the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Central and Southern District of California, and the Finance Committee of the United States Senate;
- International Paper, Inc. in class action antitrust proceedings in federal court in New York;
- Koch Industries, Inc. in class action antitrust and related litigation in federal courts in New York and North Carolina;
- the independent directors of Oxford Health Plans, Inc. in 67 consolidated class action securities fraud cases in federal court in New York and in the parallel S.E.C. investigation;
- the former directors of Getty Inc. in post closing challenges to a tender offer and backend merger with Lukoil (Russia) in New York Supreme Court;
- Miramax Films in a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court brought by a producer of a motion picture alleging broad breach of a distribution and rights contract and seeking to enjoin the screening of the movie at a major film festival;
- European and American directors in the Paracelsus/Champion merger and IPO litigation in federal court in Houston and before the S.E.C.;
- A major US tobacco company in connection with an investigation by the US Department of Justice into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, US Campaign finance laws, and insider trading laws;
- Rogers & Wells in professional misconduct litigation in federal court in New York;
- Directors and investors lead by international developer Paul Reichmann in litigation in Delaware Chancery Court involving the private buyout of a public company;
- The independent directors of Emigrant Bankcorp in litigation brought by Milstein family members in Delaware Chancery Court; and
- Internet Wire, Inc. in a class action securities fraud case in federal court in New York.
He served for six years as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Among the matters he ruled upon were the First Amendment claims of two college professors who asserted that their tenure rights had been injured because of published writings and speeches on the subject of race; the application of the doctrine of sovereign immunity to the Government of Venezuela in a civil suit brought by a consortium of European Banks; the scope of federal toxic waste cleanup legislation; the jurisdictional basis of international arbitration under a 1947 United Nations Convention; the role of French and American Courts in the disposition of the estate of the French painter Max Ernst; and copyright interests associated with the writings of the novelist and poet James Agee. He also presided over criminal prosecutions of murder, kidnapping, international drug trafficking, bribery, tax evasion, bank secrecy act violations and securities fraud.
He previously served as New York City’s Commissioner of Investigation. As head of the Department of Investigation during the course of the 1986 87 municipal corruption scandal, he conducted inquiries into corruption throughout City Government, and investigated multi-million dollar fraud and kickback conspiracies by major contractors doing business with the City. Eighty-seven city officials were arrested, indicted or removed from office during his tenure.
Mr. Conboy also served as Executive Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, New York’s Deputy Police Commissioner, and principal criminal justice advisor to the Mayor of New York City.