April 20, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2021 – Michael R. Sherwin, a high-ranking prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, who most recently served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he supervised the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in the country, has joined the disputes and investigations firm Kobre & Kim. Mr. Sherwin will be based out of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
“Few lawyers have as much experience as Michael when it comes to conducting international investigations,” said Kobre & Kim co-founder Steven Kobre. “His many years of distinguished government service, where he led complex economic, criminal and national security investigations, from South and Central America and the Middle East, to Asia and Europe, will be a valuable asset to the many clients we represent.”
At Kobre & Kim, Mr. Sherwin will advise corporations and high-net-worth individuals facing allegations of corruption and bribery, securities, tax and accounting fraud, and international sanctions violations, among other misconduct. He will also support the firm’s planned establishment of an office in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
Mr. Sherwin’s arrival bolsters Kobre & Kim’s fast-growing international private client practice. The firm’s current and recent high-profile matters include representing the former chairman of Luckin Coffee in connection with allegations of securities and accounting fraud, employee misconduct and in defense against the DOJ and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz in DOJ investigations into allegations of cross-border corruption and bribery; and several Unaoil executives in a DOJ foreign bribery investigation.
“Moving to Kobre & Kim LLP from the Department of Justice was an easy choice – this firm has the perfect balance of sophisticated international clients and a tremendous depth of high-end legal talent,” said Mr. Sherwin. “I look forward to leveraging my experience prosecuting cases from Dubai to Shanghai to help the firm’s clients navigate the myriad of cross-border issues they face.”
Since joining the Department of Justice in 2008, Mr. Sherwin has built a distinguished record as a prominent career prosecutor. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Mr. Sherwin prosecuted a number of prominent matters, including multi-million dollar securities and government contractor fraud cases, and supervising the largest federal health-care fraud strike force in the United States, where his team led the nation in health care fraud indictments and seized assets. As a member of the National Security Section, Mr. Sherwin prosecuted numerous economic espionage and counter-intelligence matters, where he collaborated closely with the intelligence services of Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, South Korea and France.
In 2011, Mr. Sherwin was detailed to the U.S. Department of State by Attorney General Eric Holder to assist the Afghanistan Attorney General’s Office in prosecuting several hundred terrorism trials before a specially convened Afghan judicial tribunal outside Bagram, Afghanistan.
In Mr. Sherwin’s most recent role as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, his Office brought a number of historic cases, including the largest seizure of illicit Iranian petroleum in U.S. history and the Department’s first seizure of illicit cryptocurrency linked to al-Qaida and other designated terrorist groups. Under Mr. Sherwin’s leadership, the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office also charged Libyan national Abu Agela Masud, the alleged bomb-maker who constructed the explosive device that destroyed Pan AM 103 in December 1988, killing 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland.
During Mr. Sherwin's last assignment for the Department of Justice, he served as the chief prosecutor for all criminal cases related to the assault on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. Under his leadership, more than 400 criminal cases were filed and over 500 search warrants were executed throughout the United States in less than 10 weeks.
Prior to his appointment as the D.C. U.S. Attorney in March 2020, Mr. Sherwin advised Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on national security matters as Associate Deputy Attorney General.