Alan Futerfas, the lawyer Donald Trump Jr has hired to represent him in connection with Russia-related probes, has over 25 years' experience in handling government investigations and criminal cases.
John Moscow, a former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, described Futerfas as a “top-flight lawyer” who is both “high-powered and low-key.”
Here are some facts about Futerfas:
He became a top mob defence lawyer early on Miami-born Futerfas joined the law firm of veteran criminal defence lawyer Gerald Shargel after graduating from Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York in 1987, and quickly became a partner. He left to form his own firm in 1994.
In one of his biggest cases from that period, Futerfas won a new trial in 1997 for mob captain Anthony Russo after it was revealed that an FBI agent had deliberately leaked information to fuel an organised crime war in the early 1990s.
He expanded into white-collar cases
Futerfas encountered Moscow in the early 2000s case against former Tyco International chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski. Futerfas represented Christine Berry, Kozlowski's art consultant, in the sales tax avoidance investigation that led to the larger case over Kozlowski's corporate “looting.”
In 2010, he represented hedge fund group HFV Management in connection with a wide-ranging probe by the New York Attorney General's office into corruption in the state's pension fund.
He has also handled cyber-crime cases.
Futerfas is defending Ziv Orenstein, one of three Israelis charged by federal prosecutors with hacking into JPMorgan Chase & Co and the Wall Street Journal, among other targets, as part of a massive “pump and dump” scheme. Orenstein pleaded not guilty.
Another client of Futerfas was Nikita Kuzmin, a Russian national who agreed last year to pay $6.9 million for creating computer malware that made users' bank accounts vulnerable to cyber criminals.
He worked one summer for a longtime lawyer to Donald Trump.
In the summer of 1985, while he was in law school, Futerfas worked for lawyer Jay Goldberg, who went on to become Trump's divorce lawyer.
Futerfas said he did not come to Trump Jr through Goldberg.
He studied at Juilliard.
Futerfas earned his undergraduate degree from the prestigious performing arts school. He still plays bass trombone for the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.
Reuters
