Charles J. Berk

Charles J. Berk focuses his practice on government investigations, white collar criminal defense, financial services litigation, securities and commodities fraud, antitrust law, and cryptocurrency. With experience in both civil and criminal matters, Charles represents public and private companies, financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses, senior officers, directors, and other individuals in government and regulatory investigations, criminal prosecutions, complex commercial litigation, and internal investigations.

Charles’s financial services practice includes representing some of the nation’s largest financial institutions in high-stakes litigation involving alleged fraud, breach of contract, and other complex business disputes. In addition to his state and federal court experience, Charles has wide-ranging experience litigating, mediating, and managing disputes before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and JAMS.

His recent work includes significant white collar defense victories, including serving on the defense team that secured a Second Circuit decision vacating the convictions in United States v. Chastain, the first federal prosecution alleging insider trading in digital assets. The case involved a former employee of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace and resulted in a ruling that confidential business information must have commercial value to the business to qualify as property under the federal wire fraud statute. Charles’s recent work also includes obtaining dismissal of a securities fraud indictment against a public company’s CFO in United States v. Pappagallo.