Pryor Cashman LLP

White Collar + Regulatory Enforcement

Partner

Sidhardha "Sid" Kamaraju is a partner and chair of Pryor Cashman's White Collar + Regulatory Enforcement Practice, as well as member of the Financial Institutions Practice.

Sid’s practice focuses on criminal defense, regulatory investigations, complex civil litigation, cross-border litigation, and advisory services. As a seasoned white-collar defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, Sid has extensive experience with corporate security matters, internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, asset forfeiture actions, and criminal prosecutions.  In his practice, Sid has tried numerous high-profile criminal cases and argued several significant appeals.  Sid’s experience includes, but is not limited to, representing:

A client as lead counsel in an eight-week criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, obtaining acquittals on multiple counts related to a half-a-billion dollar private offering, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering charges. A former senior executive of a major cryptocurrency exchange in connection with federal and state criminal and regulatory investigations, resulting in no criminal or regulatory actions taken against the client. A security consultant in connection with DOJ investigation into sanctions evasion and FARA allegations, obtaining immunity for the client. Investor funds in connection with a DOJ and SEC investigation into an approximately $400 million securities fraud scheme. A business owner charged by the SEC in connection with alleged Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars. The chief compliance officer at global cryptocurrency firm in DOJ prosecution for wire fraud and money laundering. The lead project manager of a $500 million municipal project in a five-week criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with public corruption charges

In addition, Sid routinely counsels corporate clients on a number of matters, including compliance with sanctions regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and securities laws.  He is also regularly invited to speak and write on numerous topics, including sanctions and AML compliance, internal investigations, and criminal prosecutions.

Prior to joining the firm, Sid worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In this role, Sid prosecuted some of the country’s most significant national security cases involving, among other things, sanctions evasion, bank fraud, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act claims, cyber-intrusions, espionage, terrorism, and large-scale narcotics trafficking. At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Sid helped lead the prosecution of several significant cases, including:

A Turkish financial institution and two individual defendants in connection with the largest sanctions evasion scheme ever prosecuted in a U.S. court, which included at a six-week long trial. A former Central Intelligence Agency officer, who was prosecuted for cyber-crimes and espionage, in connection with one of the largest thefts and unauthorized disclosures of classified information in the agency’s history, including a five-week long trial. Cholo Abdullah, who was prosecuted for participating in a plot to hijack commercial aircraft to conduct 9/11 style attack on behalf of al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group. David Kent, an oil and gas businessman who was prosecuted for hacking into a competitor’s database to obtain proprietary commercial information.

Sid’s work as a prosecutor was recognized repeatedly, including by the U.S. intelligence community and law enforcement organizations.

CJA Second Circuit Advisory Panel New York City Bar Association’s White Collar Crime Committee New York Council of Defense Lawyers

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (J.D., Order of the Coif, 2006) Duke University (B.S., 2002)