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Bruce M. Bettigole

Senior Counsel

Bruce has more than 30 years of experience as a securities enforcement lawyer and litigator. 

This includes 13 years in senior positions on the government/regulatory side. He has been lead trial counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel; Chief Counsel for NASD, now known as FINRA; Chief Counsel of NASD’s Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group; and Special Assistant United States Attorney for several U.S. Attorney’s offices. Bruce relies on his deep experience and insider’s knowledge of those agencies to represent clients involved in FINRA, SEC, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), state securities commissions, and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations and litigation, as well as in FINRA arbitrations and private securities class actions.

He provides counsel across a broad spectrum of securities enforcement matters, including allegations of misrepresentations, omissions, accounting fraud, stock manipulation, insider trading, deficient policies, and procedures, sales practices, supervision, and other key issues. His clients include broker-dealers, investment advisors and their associated persons; major public corporations and their officers, directors and key management personnel; and audit partners at Big Four public accounting firms.

Bruce served as Director and Chief Counsel in NASD’s Enforcement Department from 2003 to 2004, where he supervised investigations and litigation. He was Chief Counsel of NASD’s Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group from its inception in 1998 until 2003, supervising the unit and assisting federal, state, and local prosecutors nationwide in criminal securities-related investigations and prosecutions. From 1991 to 1998, Bruce was Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel with the SEC. He also served as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York, Florida, and Nevada, and was lead trial counsel for numerous securities fraud prosecutions.

  • Served as nationwide counsel for a major broker-dealer, successfully mediated and favorably resolved a federal class action and five state mass actions, and won complete dismissal after a hearing on the merits of all three litigated FINRA arbitrations.
  • Convinced FINRA not to pursue any action against a major independent broker-dealer regarding non-traded REITs.
  • Secured complete dismissal of a FINRA arbitration claim for more than $500,000 in connection with alleged losses resulting from an investment in a private placement.
  • Secured complete dismissal of a FINRA arbitration claim for more than $5.5 million in a case involving options trading.
  • Served as lead counsel to a national broker-dealer and secured dismissal of state court claims for more than $200,000 brought by one of its customers.
  • Secured complete dismissal of two customer disputes of more than $500,000 in FINRA arbitration, including expungement of CRD records for individual defendants named, and opposing parties were ordered to pay all session fees for the hearing on the merits.
  • Regulatory actions, government investigations and litigation in a post-coronavirus world: Part III – Investor arbitrations, litigation and class actions, April 13, 2020
  • Older Investors Summit 2017, October 19, 2017
  • Named to The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of administrative/regulatory law, securities regulation and litigation – securities law (2007-2024)
  • Selected for inclusion in Washington DC, Super Lawyers® (2013-2020)
  • President's Award – NASD (2002)
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Compliance and Legal Society
  • District of Columbia
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • Supreme Court of New York
  • J.D., Columbia Law School,

    Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar

  • B.A., cum laude, Yale University
Bruce Bettigole

Senior Counsel

Bruce Bettigole

Senior Counsel

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