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Brian K. Esser

Brian Esser focuses his practice on complex and general civil litigation and corporate investigations. Mr. Esser has worked on a range of investigations on subjects as diverse as Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, export controls, channel stuffing, New York State ethics laws and Medicare fraud and abuse. He served as an integral part of the team that monitored a leading financial institution’s compliance with nonprosecution agreements, as well as worked with the third-party examiner of several broker dealers that entered into agreements with FINRA to resolve allegations of improper mutual fund sales practices. Mr. Esser has also worked on litigation matters that include civil RICO claims brought against insurance companies, foreign sovereigns and government contractors, as well as breach of contract, noncompete clauses and unfair competition cases. Mr. Esser currently works on third-party discovery in conjunction with Baker Hostetler’s role as counsel to the court-appointed trustee under the SIPA liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

In April 2006, Baker Hostetler was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to serve a three-year term as Independent Examiner of the Bank of New York, and subsequently to monitor a nonprosecution agreement with the Western District of Pennsylvania following the merger of Mellon Bank and Bank of New York. Mr. Esser’s responsibilities focused on overseeing the monitoring and testing of the bank’s anti-money-laundering and OFAC programs, SAR filing process and subpoena response.

Mr. Esser’s other representative experiences include:

• Conducted an FCPA investigation to ascertain the nature and extent of an alleged bribe paid by a Korean subsidiary of a U.S. company.
• Counseled clients on possible FCPA consequences of the use of subcontractors in the private aviation industry in India and a possible initial public offering by a Switzerland-based manufacturer.
• Represented a healthcare consulting firm that provided advice to hospitals being investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Justice for Medicare fraud and abuse related to their in-patient outlier payment practices.
• Represented a pharmaceutical wholesaler under subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission investigating possible securities fraud due to manufacturers’ channel stuffing.

Prior to joining Baker Hostetler, Mr. Esser was an associate at the Washington, D.C., office of Arnold & Porter LLP, where he represented clients in complex civil RICO actions, including United States v. Philip Morris, as well as antitrust and general litigation matters.

In addition to his main practice, Mr. Esser maintains an active pro bono practice that encompasses litigation, appellate and legislative work in the areas of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and HIV status, reproductive rights, asylum and the death penalty. His pro bono clients have included NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Mr. Esser also served as Arnold & Porter’s “loaned associate” to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, where he represented low-income tenants in matters before the D.C. Superior Court and in administrative hearings before the D.C. Housing Authority.

Mr. Esser graduated magna cum laude from the American University Washington College of Law, where he was a Note and Comment Editor of the American University Law Review. From 2000 to 2001 he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rafael Diaz of the D.C. Superior Court.