Claudius B. Modesti > Akin > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Akin Offices
Robert S. Strauss Tower
2001 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006-1037
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
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Claudius B. Modesti
Work Department
Partner; Disputes & Investigations
Position
Claudius Modesti offers extensive enforcement experience across a broad range of capital market regulatory and corporate governance matters, including representing corporations, accounting and other professional firms, investment firms and other financial institutions in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ), SEC, PCAOB and other regulatory bodies. Claudius also conducts internal investigations on behalf of senior management, audit committees and boards of directors.
As an SEC enforcement attorney and a federal prosecutor for over a decade, Claudius investigated and prosecuted insider trading, offering fraud, accounting fraud, government contract fraud and bribery matters. Claudius then became the PCAOB’s first enforcement director, leading the team that built the enforcement group from its inception. He oversaw the development of the PCAOB’s policies and procedures for identifying matters for investigation, and he led investigations of U.S.-and foreign-based accounting firms, with many of them also requiring coordinating parallel investigations with the SEC. Claudius’ role also included overseeing the PCAOB’s litigation process. He also played a key role in the PCAOB’s collaboration with its foreign audit regulator counterparts.
Prior to a 14-year tenure at the PCAOB, Claudius served with the Fraud Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division as a trial attorney, the SEC as an enforcement attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) as a federal prosecutor in the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit.
To learn more about Claudius, please visit his full profile here: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/claudius-b-modesti.html
Career
- Co-Chair, ABA Accountants’ Liability Subcommittee, Professional Services Liability Litigation Committee.
- Parents’ Council, Wake Forest University.
- SEC Historical Society, Board of Advisors.
Memberships
District of Columbia Bar, New York Bar, New Jersey Bar
Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude, 1991; B.S., Georgetown University, 1986
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- International trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Government > Government relations
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- International trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
Firm Rankings
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Industry focus > Education
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Industry focus > Native American law
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Government > Government contracts
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- International trade > CFIUS
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Industry focus > Sport
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization