Former CFTC Enforcement Director Brian Young joins Jones Day as partner in Financial Markets Practice
Brian Young has joined Jones Day as a partner in its Financial Markets Practice. He is based in the Firm's Washington Office.
Mr. Young was most recently the Director of the Division of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where he was responsible for leading the CFTC's efforts to investigate and prosecute alleged violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations, and was previously the Director of the CFTC's Whistleblower Office. He worked extensively on matters related to digital assets, agricultural products, precious metals, foreign exchange, and financial benchmarks. Prior to his appointment at the CFTC, Mr. Young served for nearly 20 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, including a stint as the Acting Director of Litigation for the Antitrust Division, where he was the highest-ranking career official in the division's litigation program and oversaw criminal prosecutions brought under the Sherman Act, as well as civil M&A and conduct litigation. He also served in various roles in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, culminating in his appointment as Chief of the Fraud Section's Litigation Unit.
"Brian has overseen the prosecution of several of the most significant financial crimes matters in recent decades, including high-profile jury trials involving individuals for manipulating the LIBOR benchmark rate and the conviction of the executive of a global bank's foreign exchange desk for a multibillion-dollar frontrun trade," said Jay Tambe, co-leader of Jones Day's Financial Markets Practice. "His extensive government experience with enforcement litigation in the financial markets places him in an ideal position to counsel our clients around the world and is an excellent complement to our practice. I am delighted to welcome him to Jones Day."
At Jones Day, Mr. Young joins a team of nearly 320 lawyers worldwide in the Financial Markets Practice who advise clients on the full range of complex cross-border financial transactions, regulatory matters, investigations, and litigation. The lawyers in the practice represent a diverse client base of global financial institutions, issuers, borrowers, funds, asset managers, and fintech companies. Jones Day's Financial Markets Practice has helped clients close more than $1 trillion in financing transactions over the last five years, including many precedent-setting financings.
"Between his service at the CFTC and the Department of Justice, Brian has tried the most significant commodities fraud matters in the last 50 years—including a dozen multi-week fraud jury trials—and oversaw high-stakes litigation associated with alleged violations of federal antitrust law," said Noel Francisco, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day's Washington Office. "This extensive government enforcement experience in the regulatory, civil, and criminal realms will be a tremendous asset to our clients, and I am pleased to welcome him to our team here in Washington."
Mr. Young earned his law degree from Case Western University and his undergraduate degree from Miami University. He began his legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Alice Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, then as a member of the Attorney General's Honors Program Attorney assigned to the Fraud Section of the Civil Division, where he worked on civil False Claims Act matters.
"Jones Day's global Financial Markets team includes an extraordinary group of lawyers who have worked at the highest levels of government on the most important regulatory matters affecting companies operating in the financial markets," said Mr. Young. "This experience will prove to be even more vital as government regulatory activities escalate in antitrust enforcement and in emerging areas, such as cryptocurrency and other digital assets. I am excited to join the team and eager to work with my esteemed new colleagues in Washington."
