Douglas S. Zolkind is a litigation partner and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group and National Security practice. A former federal prosecutor with extensive trial experience, he defends corporate and individual clients in criminal and regulatory enforcement matters around the world.
Mr. Zolkind has extensive experience representing companies, boards, private equity firms, venture capital firms, financial institutions, digital asset firms, and individual executives in significant government investigations, enforcement matters, and internal investigations. He frequently defends clients before the Department of Justice, SEC, and state authorities, and handles matters involving allegations of securities and commodities fraud, money laundering, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), U.S. sanctions, the Bank Secrecy Act, the False Claims Act, and cryptocurrency fraud and regulatory violations. He has an international practice, often advising on cross-border investigations involving authorities in multiple jurisdictions.
Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Zolkind served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). At SDNY, Mr. Zolkind led investigations, prosecutions, and trials in cases involving the FCPA, international money laundering, fraud, securities offenses, and cybercrime. He handled many high-profile matters, including an FCPA trial involving corruption at the highest levels of the United Nations; an FCPA trial against a former cabinet-level Hong Kong official involving efforts by a Chinese energy company to bribe top officials in Chad and Uganda; the prosecution of a bank Chairman and CEO for financial institution bribery; and a trial against one of the most senior elected officials in New York State for bribery, extortion, and fraud.
Mr. Zolkind serves on the Board of Directors of the Office of the Appellate Defender and serves on the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the U.S. District Court SDNY. He is Vice Chair of the White Collar & Securities Enforcement Executive Committee of the UJA-Federation. He is also a member of the Federal Criminal Practice Committee of the Federal Bar Council.
Mr. Zolkind speaks and writes regularly on white collar issues, including serving as a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter, and co-authoring the chapter “Key Considerations in US Government Investments” in GIR Americas Investigations Review.
He clerked for the Hon. Janice Rogers Brown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2009-2010), and for the Hon. P. Kevin Castel on the U.S. District Court for the SDNY (2008-2009). From 2010-2014, Mr. Zolkind was a litigation associate at another international law firm.
Mr. Zolkind received his J.D. summa cum laude from Cornell Law School in 2008, graduating first in his class. He obtained his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.