Morvillo Abramowitz Successfully Represents Former Dewey & LeBoeuf Chairman, Steven H. Davis, Who Will Not Be Retried Following Acquittals and Mistrial
January 8, 2016
NEW YORK, January 8, 2016 – During a court appearance on January 8, 2016, the criminal case against Mr. Davis was brought to a successful resolution when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced that it would not retry Mr. Davis on pending charges relating to his tenure as Chairman of the Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm and alleged fraudulent misrepresentations of the firm’s finances. Without conceding any wrongdoing, Mr. Davis entered a deferred prosecution agreement in which he agreed to settle a civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and to voluntarily forego the practice of law in New York State for a period of five years. This was a highly positive conclusion to the case for our client.
Mr. Davis was accused of orchestrating a four-year scheme to defraud the firm’s lenders, investors and partners through false accounting entries and financial disclosures, culminating in tens of millions of dollars in losses when the firm filed for bankruptcy in May 2012. From May through October 2015, this firm represented Mr. Davis at a trial in New York State Supreme Court alongside two co-defendants on forty-nine counts of scheme to defraud, grand larceny, conspiracy, Martin Act violations and false business records. The Dewey & LeBoeuf trial was the most closely-watched white collar prosecution of 2015. It drew the sustained interest of the business press and every major legal news publication, along with thousands in the legal profession who tuned in daily to follow a live blog of the proceedings. After more than three months of testimony from forty-one prosecution witnesses, including seven cooperating witnesses, the defense rested without presenting a single witness. Following twenty-one days of jury deliberations, among the longest in New York State criminal court history, the jury acquitted Mr. Davis of twenty-three felony counts and hung on the remainder, resulting in a mistrial and no convictions. Mr. Davis was represented by Elkan Abramowitz, Lawrence Bader, Jasmine Juteau and Priya Raghavan of Morvillo Abramowitz.