Sarmad M. Khojasteh

Sarmad is a first chair trial lawyer and crisis manager. He previously served in leadership in the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he supervised more than 70 criminal and civil federal prosecutors in the Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch. He represents companies and executives in high-stakes commercial litigation, criminal and civil investigations and enforcement actions, and congressional investigations.

Sarmad’s practice focuses on the resolution of business disputes across a broad range of substantive areas, including securities and credit-related matters, contract disputes, corporate governance issues, and general commercial disputes. He also advises clients on sensitive matters, corporate crises, regulatory litigation, and other disputes involving the U.S. federal and state governments, including the DOJ, FTC, and FDA. His clients include public and private companies, private equity and other investment firms, partnerships, and individuals in industries including financial services, real estate, pharmaceuticals, insurance, media, technology, and manufacturing.
 
Prior to joining the firm, Sarmad served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Division at the DOJ, where he supervised criminal and civil prosecutions and investigations involving food, drugs, medical devices, tobacco products, consumer goods, social media, internet commerce and marketing practices, and violations of the Controlled Substances Act, Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, and the Consumer Product Safety Act. Sarmad also supervised all affirmative litigation initiated by the U.S. to enforce compliance with federal statutory or regulatory programs or to challenge state or private interference with federal constitutional or statutory mandates. His work included spearheading the first-of-its-kind nationwide civil seizure operation for illicit vaping products; successfully resolving False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act opioid-related prosecutions against two of the country’s largest pharmacies; obtaining the largest Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act-related resolution ever attained against a leading social media company; and obtaining the largest criminal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act-related resolution ever attained against a leading global online marketplace. Additionally, he served as the inaugural deputy assistant attorney general for Special Litigation, leading high-profile civil litigation involving administration priorities or senior administration officials. In this role, he prepared senior administration officials to testify before Congress, in district court, and in depositions.
 
Before entering government, Sarmad spent nearly 20 years as a commercial litigation partner at two global law firms. The New York Law Journal recognized him as a “Rising Star” (2021), and Benchmark Litigation named him a “Future Star” (2024 and 2025) and included him on its “40 & Under Hot List” (2018).

Sarmad’s experience includes representing:

• A private equity firm, a mezzanine lender, in prosecution of breach of contract and fraud claims against a borrower, seeking to recover $65 million
• A private equity firm in defending against allegations by limited partner that general partner improperly calculated asset management fees and incentive fees
• A private equity firm in litigation pursuing breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claims against a financial advisor resulting from undisclosed conflicts of interest
• A private equity firm in an internal investigation arising from allegations that a current employee misappropriated confidential information from his prior employer
• A portfolio company of private equity firm in an antitrust investigation conducted by the Office of the New York Attorney General
• A portfolio portfolio company of private equity firm in its malpractice claim against two AmLaw 100 law firms to recover $300 million in damages caused by the firms’ negligence in negotiating a renewable energy M&A transaction
• The former CEO of U.S. operations of a London-based hedge fund in an international arbitration defending against a breach of contract claim
• A former CEO and shareholder of a credit and debit payment solution and services company in multiple lawsuits against controlling noteholders and the board of directors arising from the board’s pursuit of a debt-for-equity exchange at an unfairly low equity cash out price
• Cannabis cultivation experts and investors in a dispute against their joint venture partner, a subsidiary of a large multistate marijuana operator, concerning the ownership of a medical marijuana license; After a two-week arbitration before a panel of three arbitrators, the arbitration panel found that the joint venture partner breached its fiduciary duties and unjustly enriched itself, and that it was liable for over $15 million in damages
• Federal Housing Finance Agency, as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in actions in federal and state courts against numerous financial institutions and individuals; The lawsuits sought rescission or damages from the banks for, among other things, their misrepresentations concerning pools of mortgage loans that underly residential mortgage-backed securities the banks issued, securitized, and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; after prevailing on critical pre-trial issues, FHF A settled the actions for over $2 billion, including a $1.25 billion settlement with Morgan Stanley
• MBIA, one of the world’s largest monoline insurers, in litigation brought by 18 of the world’s largest banks seeking to overturn MBIA’s corporate restructuring which, with the approval of the New York Department of Insurance, established a separate company for MBIA’s municipal bond insurance business; after a several-week evidentiary proceeding, the New York Supreme Court upheld MBIA’s restructuring, and MBIA received $1.7 billion in cash and a $500 million line of credit for its municipal bond insurance business