Breon Peace, Former U.S. Attorney, Rejoins Cleary Gottlieb

Cleary Gottlieb announced today that Breon Peace, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), rejoined the firm as a partner and Co-Leader of the Litigation Group, which encompasses the firm’s white collar, commercial litigation and arbitration practices.

As U.S. Attorney, Breon led one of the largest and most important U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the country, supervising a staff of over 160 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and 200 other professional staff, and serving a community of over eight million residents. He oversaw some of the most significant prosecutions in the country involving a wide range of corporate enforcement, complex fraud, national security, corruption and violent gang prosecutions. In addition, Breon served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), which advised the Attorney General on matters of policy, procedure, and management impacting all the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and was the Chair of the AGAC White Collar Fraud Subcommittee. In his capacity as Chair of the subcommittee, Breon led the development and implementation by all U.S Attorney’s Offices across the nation of the Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, which set national standards for circumstances under which companies may receive credit for disclosing potential criminal conduct, and the concrete benefits they will receive for such disclosures. He also served as a principal in the Department’s Disruptive Technology Task Force, a collaborative composed of the leaders of the National Security Division, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices aimed at strengthening supply chains and protecting critical technological assets from being acquired or used by nation-state adversaries.

“Breon is a highly respected leader in the legal community, and we are thrilled to welcome him back,” said Cleary’s Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “His integrity, judgment, and depth of experience – both in private practice and public service – make him an extraordinary resource for clients navigating their most sensitive and high-stakes matters.”

During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Breon oversaw high-profile cases, including:

• The successful prosecution of former Congressman George Santos for fraud and identity theft, and the singer R. Kelly for sex trafficking.
• A wide range of historic corporate enforcement actions, including cases involving violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), complex investor fraud, money laundering, cybercrime, and the first corporate prosecution for provision of material support of designated terrorist organizations.
• Some of the nation’s most significant national security cases, including the prosecution of a Pakistani national with ties to Iran on a terrorism charge for a foiled plot to assassinate U.S. politicians and government officials, the prosecution of three Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and their employees for their role in manufacturing fentanyl bound for the United States, spying cases against the Chinese government and officials for operation of an undeclared police station in New York, acting as covert Chinese agents, and for harassing United States citizens, as well as numerous prosecutions for violations of the export control laws and sanctions evasion.
• Significant cybercrime investigations, including securing charges against seven hackers from Advanced Persistent Threat 31 associated with the Chinese government charged with targeting government officials, U.S. businesses, and perceived critics of China.
• Prosecutions of multinational cartels and violent gangs, including the former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna for his decade-long assistance to the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, Co-Founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, for drug trafficking, firearms offenses, and money laundering, the former Leader of “Clan Del Golfo” Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, for his role as the leader of the multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization, and over a dozen leaders of the violent gang MS-13.

Breon also oversaw the Eastern District’s Civil Division and its broad-based docket of civil matters and investigations, which included securing a billion-dollar civil fraud settlement involving the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities and multiple investigations for violations of the False Claims Act, including multi-million-dollar settlements related to health care fraud and the first settlement of a case under the Department’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. He also formed the Office’s Consumer Protection Team within the Civil Division.

“During my time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I had the immense privilege of working with an incredible group of talented and dedicated public servants and I am proud of the work that we were able to accomplish together,” said Breon. “I am excited to return to Cleary and help lead its world class litigation and white collar defense practices. I look forward to leveraging all of my experience to provide high-quality representation for clients and help them achieve the best outcomes under challenging circumstances.”

Breon practiced at Cleary for nearly 20 years prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, serving as one of the leaders of the firm’s litigation practice, and on the firm’s Executive Committee. During that period, he handled some of the most significant enforcement and litigation matters of the time, including a high-profile investigation into the Samarco dam collapse in Brazil, wide-ranging LIBOR and foreign exchange investigations for a global investment bank, and was appointed by a federal judge to be Special Master for a discrimination case involving the New York City Fire Department.

“Breon is truly an exceptional lawyer. Whether as a partner at Cleary or as U.S. Attorney, he has had extraordinary success leading teams on the biggest matters of the day by driving exceptional results across challenging and complex cases, and he rightly is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of his generation.” said Victor Hou, Co-Leader of the Litigation Practice and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “He is brilliant and someone you want on your side. Breon has earned the respect that he commands with regulators, the bench and board members alike through decades of excellence and public service, and our clients will benefit from his unmatched combination of legal acumen and credibility.”

As part of the Cleary’s industry leading litigation and white collar defense practices, Breon will advise clients on high-stakes litigation, regulatory and enforcement matters, internal investigations, and compliance matters. He bolsters the firm’s already extensive ranks of former federal prosecutors, which include Lev Dassin and Joon Kim, both former Acting U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York; Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia; David Last, the former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s FCPA Unit; Jonathan Kolodner, former Chief of the Criminal Division for the Southern District of New York; Matthew Solomon, former Chief Trial Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission and former Chief of the Fraud Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia; Matthew Yelovich, the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California; and former senior officials at the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission.

Breon has received numerous legal industry awards and recognition, including being named 2024 Trailblazer of the Year by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and named in the Most Influential Black Lawyers List in 2018. He has been recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA; Chambers Latin America; The Legal 500 U.S.; Who’s Who Legal: Investigations; Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders, Investigations; and Benchmark Litigation U.S.

Biographical Overview:

Breon started his legal career at Cleary in 1996. From 1997 to 1998, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Sterling Johnson, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Thereafter, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Breon was an Acting Assistant Professor of Clinical Law at the New York University School of Law during the 2002-2003 academic year before returning to Cleary in 2003. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Office of the Appellate Defender, the Lawyers Committee of the Innocence Project, and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.

Breon received his J.D. in 1996 from New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and later served as a member of the Board of Trustees, and his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993.