Who is George Canellos, the lawyer entrusted by Binance with a special background combination?

Original Author: FYJ, BlockBeats

On June 12, court documents showed that Binance.US hired four lawyers from Milbank, a well-known New York-based law firm, including the global head of Milbank’s litigation and arbitration Partner George Canellos.

Previously, John Reed Stark, former director of the US SEC Internet Enforcement Office, tweeted speculation that the US Department of Justice may file a criminal indictment related to Binance. He said that the CFTC and SEC complaints read more like criminal indictments, full of fraud , fraud, obstruction of justice, and money laundering, and believes that neither the CFTC nor the SEC’s case focuses on money laundering, “this may be the prosecution space set aside and reserved for the US Department of Justice’s criminal proceedings related to Binance.”

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Entrusted by Binance, who is George Canellos?

George Canellos began his career in the Litigation Department of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a firm known for corporate law, where Canellos handled acquisition disputes and securities litigation; in 1994 he joined the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Office, and held various positions during this time, leading the prosecution of several high-profile cases. As head of the Major Crimes Division, he oversaw the investigation and prosecution of large-scale financial crimes by the Assistant U.S. Attorney, and as a senior trial attorney on the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, he led the prosecution of individuals and companies for accounting fraud, investment advisory fraud, Numerous prosecutions for insider trading and other violations of federal securities laws.

During his four-and-a-half years at the SEC, Canellos served as Acting Director, Deputy Director, and ultimately Co-Director of the SEC Division of Enforcement, where Canellos oversaw the civil enforcement of approximately 1,300 SEC personnel in 12 offices across the United States work - including investigations, prosecutions and trials.

While at the SEC, Canellos oversaw many landmark enforcement cases, most notably two of the most pivotal insider trading cases in U.S. financial history.

The first case was the case of Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of the hedge fund Galleon Group, which was once called "the largest insider trading case in Wall Street history". The company leaked company secrets for insider trading, with a total illegal profit of 63.8 million US dollars. Rajaratnam was finally found guilty of 14 counts of fraud, sentenced to 11 years in prison and confiscated all illegal gains; Not only Rajaratnam, 21 people have been arrested and pleaded guilty in this case.

Another well-known case occurred in 2013. Canellos participated in the investigation of the insider trading of the hedge fund SAC Capital. Stephen Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital, finally paid the SEC a sky-high $600 million fine, avoiding a possible delay of two to three years. and paid a $1.2 billion fine to the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid prosecution on five criminal counts of securities fraud. Mathew Martoma, the manager of a portfolio of insider trading funds, was also sentenced to nine years in prison on September 8, 2014. . In addition, SAC Capital was also ordered by the court to return all external client funds it managed, and Cohen’s later comeback relied on the family office Point 72, which was equivalent to exiting the hedge fund industry since the case. Prior to this, Stephen Cohn was known as "the new king of Wall Street hedge funds."

In these and other cases, Canellos worked closely with senior leadership from the U.S. Department of Justice, FINRA, CFTC, state attorneys general and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, as well as financial market regulators in Europe and Asia. In addition, Canellos served as co-chair of the RMBS Working Group of the Interagency Financial Fraud Task Force established by the Obama Administration in 2009.

"Canellos has a rare and very special combination of backgrounds - a former SEC prosecutor and a Justice Department prosecutor, like Liam Neeson plus Perry Mason (Earl Stanley Gardner Genius lawyer in my pen), John Reed Stark, former director of the US SEC Office of Internet Enforcement, commented in a tweet.