Luke Cass
Partner
Quarles & Brady, LLP
Luke Cass is a Partner and leads the Washington, D.C. office’s White Collar Crime and Internal Investigations Practice. He defends corporations and individuals in connection with a variety of federal criminal allegations, including health care fraud, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, embezzlement, bank fraud, and money laundering. He also conducts proactive, internal investigations related to bribery, misbranding, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). As a decorated federal prosecutor for over a decade, Mr. Cass has significant experience with white collar investigations and has litigated federal appellate and district court cases throughout the nation.
Prior to joining Quarles & Brady, Mr. Cass was a Senior Trial Attorney with the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division where he handled public corruption investigations and prosecutions of elected, appointed, and career government officials. Mr. Cass served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Financial Fraud and Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico before working at the DOJ in Washington. In addition to Mr. Cass's extensive federal trial experience, he has also briefed and argued numerous appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Mr. Cass clerked in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York prior to serving as a federal prosecutor and is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches White Collar Crime and Securities Fraud.
As a result of his experience, Mr. Cass is exceptionally well qualified to counsel clients in nearly every aspect of complex white collar matters involving both the public and private sectors.
Marquest J. Meeks
Senior Counsel
Major League Baseball
Marquest Meeks is the Sports Betting & Investigations Senior Counsel at Major League Baseball based in New York City, New York.
Ryan Ellersick
Assistant U.S. Attorney
United States Attorneys' Office
Ryan Ellersick is an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the United States Attorneys' Office.
Nicholas Connor
Senior Counsel, Government Investigations & Litigation
Johnson & Johnson
Nicholas Connor is the Senior Counsel, handling Government Investigations & Litigation at Johnson and Johnson.
Simon Cataldo
Partner
Ashcroft Law Firm
Simon's practice focuses on government investigations and election law. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cataldo served as a Trial Attorney at the Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice, where he handled high-profile prosecutions involving elected and appointed government officials, including federal and local law enforcement officials, a judge, and politicians, as well as lobbyists and businesspersons. He has prosecuted violations of federal conspiracy, bribery, Hobbs Act extortion, wire and mail fraud, RICO, Travel Act, criminal contempt, and false statements laws, as well as the Federal Election Campaign Act. At DOJ, Mr. Cataldo partnered with numerous U.S. Attorney’s Offices and led investigative teams that included agents from the FBI, IRS, ICE, DHS, and the Offices of Inspector General at multiple federal agencies. He also contributed substantially to the most recent edition of the DOJ’s Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses Manual.
In 2016, Mr. Cataldo served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he tried over a dozen cases to verdict in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
At the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. Cataldo was Managing Editor of The Virginia Law Review. Mr. Cataldo graduated order of the coif (top ten percent of graduation class). He was the recipient of the James C. Slaughter Honor Award, presented by the faculty to an outstanding member of the graduating class, and the Ritter Prize for extraordinary honor, character and integrity. During law school Mr. Cataldo also worked as a Summer Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.
Prior to law school Mr. Cataldo was a special education math teacher in Harlem with Teach for America, and was awarded the Amgen Fellowship for leadership in math and science. Mr. Cataldo founded Harlem Lacrosse, a school-based nonprofit that provides academic, emotional, and athletic support for at-risk youth and that now operates in public schools in Boston, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
David E. Benkert
Senior Managing Director
Ankura
David E. Benkert is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura, based in Los Angeles. For over two decades he has been providing clients solutions to their financial accounting and compliance oversight issues. David led forensic investigations, provided litigation support, expert witness testimony, and post investigation remediation guidance. These activities have included financial analysis, forecasting and planning, financial accounting, and whistleblower investigations for management and boards of directors. David frequently works with boards of directors to develop oversight and compliance plans. He has worked for pubic and non-public companies, not for profit organizations, as well as government entities. David is a Certified Public Accountant as well as being certified in Financial Forensics.
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