Michael S. Kraut

Partner

Michael S. Kraut is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Kraut's practice focuses primarily on complex securities litigation and enforcement matters. He represents registered investment advisers, hedge funds, trust companies, broker-dealers, public issuers, and their officers and directors in securities and other civil litigation and investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, self-regulatory organizations, and state securities regulators. Mr. Kraut also counsels clients on conducting internal investigations and on regulatory and compliance issues.

Significant representations in recent years include:

• Representation of hedge funds in defense of SEC investigations concerning compliance with federal securities laws and regulations, including issues relating to material nonpublic information, trading around secondary and follow-on offerings, and spread of rumors.
• Representation of residential mortgage-backed securitization trustees in several class actions brought by mortgage loan borrowers asserting that the trustees lacked standing to enforce notes and mortgages that had been securitized.
• Representation of a large national bank and its Chairman, CEO, and President in defense of a federal district court action brought by mortgage loan borrower.
• Representation of residential mortgage-backed securitization trustees and trusts in connection with class actions alleging violations of federal securities laws.
• Representation of a large commodities broker in an action against a customer's controlling shareholder and its corporate affiliate to reform and enforce a guaranty of a commodities trading account.
• Representation of large banking institutions in defense of regulatory proceedings related to residential mortgage-backed securitization.
• Representation of an indenture trustee in defense of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims asserted by a trust investor that purchased credit-linked notes in a transaction in which it wrote loss protection on a portfolio of loans.
• Representation of a broker-dealer, a bank, and an investment adviser in defense of an action brought by a limited partner in an exchange fund alleging breach of contract and fraud.

Mr. Kraut lectures and publishes articles on a variety of topics involving securities litigation and enforcement issues, including prevention of insider trading, consulting with expert networks, wrap fee programs, and SEC and SRO enforcement cases and developments involving broker-dealers.

Mr. Kraut is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.