James G. Cavoli is a partner in the New York office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and a member of the firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Group. Mr. Cavoli joined the firm in November 2005, and his practice covers a wide range of complex matters, including private commercial litigation and arbitration, and white collar crime and regulatory matters and internal investigations.
Primary Focus & Experience
Mr. Cavoli has represented a major broker-dealer in connection with the industry-wide auction rate securities investigation by the SEC and state regulators, defended against bid-rigging allegations by the US Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, represented a major Wall Street bank in connection with SEC allegations of improper trading, represented high net-worth individuals victimized by the fraudulent conduct of a former investment advisor, and represented the former President of a major international bank in the context of a US Department of Justice investigation into possible OFAC violations.
Mr. Cavoli also has substantial experience in private civil litigation, focusing primarily on securities and complex commercial disputes. He represented one of the world’s largest commercial banks in major litigation stemming from the Adelphia bankruptcy. In separate litigations, Mr. Cavoli represented two of the largest mutual fund complexes against excessive fee claims, one of which he tried to victory in United States District Court for the Central District of California. He also represented several major energy producers in international commercial disputes concerning LNG contracts, and represents several prominent financial institutions in various multi-million-dollar FINRA arbitrations.
Mr. Cavoli began his career in 1992 at Rogers & Wells (now Clifford Chance LLP), where he worked for over five years, focusing on antitrust litigation. In February 1998, he became an Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York. While there, Mr. Cavoli led a wide variety of criminal investigations and successful prosecutions, focusing primarily on white-collar matters. He was a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit, where he handled matters involving accounting fraud, insider trading, and hedge-fund manager bribery, and worked closely with SEC staff conducting parallel civil investigations. Mr. Cavoli was also a member of the Major Crimes Unit, where he prosecuted health care fraud, bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, and obstruction of justice offenses, among others, and served as health care fraud coordinator. Mr. Cavoli also served as deputy chief appellate attorney for the Office, one of six supervisors in charge of overseeing briefing and argument of all appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As an Assistant, he handled numerous jury trials and arguments before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Recognition & Accomplishments
Mr. Cavoli has written a number of articles, including Court Finds Implied Private Right of Action Under the Investment Company Act (2009), NSMIA Preemption and its Impact on the New York Attorney General’s Action Against Bank of America (2010), The SEC’s Mutual Fund Fee Initiative: What to Expect (2010), and Pleading Fraud In New York: CPLR 3016(b)'s Heightened Pleading Standard and Why It’s Important (2011). While in law school, he served as the lead articles editor for the Albany Law Review.