Elizabeth Hanft

Elizabeth (Liz) Hanft’s practice focuses on complex civil securities and shareholder litigation, regulatory enforcement, and white-collar criminal defense and investigations.

Liz regularly represents multinational corporations, financial institutions, directors, and officers facing high-stakes financial and M&A disputes involving class actions and derivative suits alleging breaches of fiduciary duty, disclosure violations, securities fraud, and anti-money laundering and financial reporting issues.

From 2015-2024, Liz served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she served as co-chief of the General Crimes Unit, supervising hundreds of investigations spanning an array of subject matters, including fraud, cybercrime, money laundering, corruption, violent crime, and sex trafficking. Liz also served as a senior member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, where she investigated and prosecuted insider trading, market manipulation, accounting fraud, and other securities and commodities fraud cases; and a member of the National Security and International Narcotics Unit, where she prosecuted both international and domestic terrorism cases and led sanctions evasion and counterespionage investigations.

During her time as an AUSA, Liz conducted and supervised dozens of trials and argued, briefed, and supervised several federal appeals before the Second Circuit. She also led numerous high-profile investigations, including the investigation and prosecution of a former U.S. congressman for insider trading, the insider trading trial of a special purpose acquisition company board member, and the investigation and prosecution of a high-profile cryptocurrency promoter for securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering.

Liz originally joined the firm in 2013. She rejoined as a partner in 2026 from another major international law firm.