David Gopstein

Partner | New York
T: (212) 763-0883
E: dgopstein@kaplanhecker.com
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David Gopstein

David Gopstein is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.

With over 15 years’ experience as a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, David represents senior executives, companies, and Boards of Directors in high-stakes criminal and civil enforcement matters involving the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, and other federal, state, and local authorities. David also maintains a broad commercial litigation practice. His clients have included financial institutions, private funds, multinational corporations and their executives.

Prior to joining the firm, David served as Deputy Chief of the Business & Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY). He also served at various points as the Healthcare Fraud Coordinator, a Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Coordinator, and the Environmental Crimes Coordinator. Over his seven years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, David led and supervised a wide range of investigations and prosecutions involving securities fraud, healthcare fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, digital assets and cybercrime, foreign bribery and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the Bank Secrecy Act. David twice received the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation’s Prosecutor of the Year award, as well as the IRS’s Deputy Commissioner award and the Federal Drug Agents Foundation True American Hero award.

David has extensive trial and courtroom experience. As a federal prosecutor, he successfully conducted numerous jury trials, including a first-of-its-kind securities fraud and computer hacking case involving trading on inside information obtained through stolen press releases; a foreign bribery and money laundering case involving a former member of the Barbados parliament; an FCPA case involving a Brazilian global conglomerate; and the first-ever conviction, of a former bank CEO, for violating the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. David also briefed and argued numerous appeals before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. As a defense lawyer, David has tried both civil and criminal matters.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, David clerked for the Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and worked at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he represented institutions and individuals in complex commercial litigation and DOJ, SEC, CFTC, FINRA and state attorney general investigations and proceedings.

David is currently a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel in the Eastern District of New York, where he represents indigent criminal defendants.

David received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review. He received his A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton University.

EDUCATION

  • A.B., Princeton University, summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa, 2005
  • J.D., Yale Law School, 2008

CLERKSHIPS

  • Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

FELLOWSHIPS, LEADERSHIP & RECOGNITIONS

  • 500 X – The Next Generation, Lawdragon, 2023
  • Prosecutor of the Year, Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, 2018 and 2019 
  • IRS’s Deputy Commissioner Award
  • The Federal Drug Agents Foundation True American Hero Award 

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 
  • U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
  • New York
     

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