Jonathan R. Barr, a former federal prosecutor and a former Senior Counsel at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, focuses his practice in the following areas:
Since joining the firm, Mr. Barr has conducted internal investigations, advised on Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) compliance and has represented clients in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, the New York Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Barr has represented clients in investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, complex accounting and securities law issues, insider trading restrictions, healthcare law issues, price fixing, off label drug marketing restrictions, export control restrictions, customs law and immigration law.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Barr served for more than 15 years with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Mr. Barr’s eight and a half year tenure at the Department of Justice includes experience as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section. Mr. Barr also served a term as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. As a federal prosecutor and seasoned courtroom advocate, Mr. Barr tried jury and bench trials, drafted appellate briefs and successfully handled numerous hearings and motions arguments. Mr. Barr was a Senior Counsel at the SEC’s Division of Enforcement for more than six and a half years.
From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Barr served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. At the U.S. Attorney’s office, Mr. Barr specialized in investigating and prosecuting corporate and securities fraud violations. Mr. Barr successfully prosecuted numerous criminal securities fraud violations including market manipulation schemes and insider trading. In United States v. Roderic L. Boling, Mr. Barr prosecuted a first-of-its-kind voicemail pump and dump securities fraud scheme, in which fraudulent voicemails were utilized to induce investors throughout the United States to purchase shares of more than five publicly traded companies. In United States v. Eric Tsao, Mr. Barr successfully prosecuted a scientist and corporate executive of a major pharmaceutical company for insider trading and perjury. As the Office’s Corporate and Securities Fraud Coordinator, Mr. Barr advised the U.S. Attorney on high profile corporate fraud investigations, coordinated the Office’s Corporate and Securities Fraud Program and served as the Office’s primary liaison with the SEC. In addition, Mr. Barr conducted public corruption investigations.
Prior to serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Barr was a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section for three and a half years where he specialized in handling securities, mail, wire and commodities fraud prosecutions. In United States v. Idania Arias, Mr. Barr served as co-counsel in one of the largest multidefendant Medicare fraud conspiracy prosecutions in the Southern District of Florida.
As a Senior Counsel with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C., Mr. Barr investigated and litigated violations of the federal securities laws with a particular emphasis on complex financial fraud, insider trading and market manipulation. Serving as a member of the Division’s litigation team in SEC v. Banner Fund International, Mr. Barr was instrumental in obtaining emergency injunctive relief, asset restrictions and the entry of a summary judgment order in this multimillion-dollar securities fraud enforcement action in the District of Columbia.
While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Barr was a member of the inter-agency Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group. Mr. Barr has lectured on the topics of effective compliance programs, securities fraud, parallel investigations, corporate monitorships, building a fraud case to win at trial, perjury prosecutions, insurance fraud, and accountants as gatekeepers after Sarbanes-Oxley. His audiences have included diverse groups such as attendees of the American Bar Association’s National Institute on Securities Fraud, federal prosecutors, SEC staff attorneys, federal law enforcement agents, lawyers from general counsels’ offices and law firms, and insurance fraud investigators.
During his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and a Department of Justice Trial Attorney with the Fraud Section, Mr. Barr’s achievements as a white collar prosecutor were repeatedly recognized. Mr. Barr was presented with the prestigious Director’s Award from the Department of Justice’s Executive Office of United States Attorneys and an Inspector General’s Integrity Award from the Department of Health and Human Services for his work in prosecuting Medicare fraud in United States v. Idania Arias. Mr. Barr received a letter of commendation from the SEC’s Enforcement Director, and in addition, received numerous special achievement awards, meritorious service awards, time off awards and promotions during his service at the Department of Justice.
Prior to his service with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Barr served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the late Federal District Court Judge Morey L. Sear in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and worked as an associate at a national law firm.
Mr. Barr is a Barrister in the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court in Washington, D.C.
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