Mark A. Kornfeld

How Mark Helps Clients

Mark Kornfeld is a trusted adviser to his clients. He has vast, cross-border expertise in asset recovery, bankruptcy litigation, business tort, complex commercial litigation, corporate divorces, corporate governances, crypto and digital assets, directors and officers, equity receiverships, internal investigation, mediation, Ponzi schemes, and regulatory and securities litigation under state and federal securities laws (and FINRA) and whistleblowers. With more than 30 years of experience, Mark is known globally as a highly-skilled dispute resolution expert, who advises, manages, counsels and defends corporate clients and executives across a variety of industries, including financial services, hedge funds, investment management, media companies, emerging companies, construction and real estate developers, Fortune 500 and private equity companies, and sports and entertainment companies.

Mark also currently serves as a court-appointed federal equity receiver in connection with the In Re Kinetics action, charged with returning assets to victims of the alleged malfeasance and fraud in that matter. Mark provided nearly a decade of relentless service - as one of the core leaders and strategists - for court-appointed Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) Trustee Irving Picard and his lead counsel David Sheehan, in the worldwide efforts to recover billions in assets for the Fund of Customer Property. Mark was one of the few attorneys in the world to interview the late Mr. Bernard Madoff in prison as part of the Trustee’s investigation. Mark also humbly served the Recovery Initiative as the first Chair of both the Expert and Settlement Committees, as well as personally leading multiple teams involved in billions in settlements and litigations against managers, investment advisors, domestic and international feeder funds and other financial institutions.

Due to Mark’s wealth of experience, he frequently speaks on high-profile litigation and regulatory enforcement matters arising in connection with Ponzi schemes, insider trading, and most recently crypto and digital asset matters such as FTX/Bankman-Fried, Coinbase and Binance, as well as many other securities and economic frauds.

I pride myself on delivering first-class legal and business advice and counsel to clients at platinum value — I distinguish myself by always being in the trenches with you, such that what may be keeping you up at night will be keeping me up at night on your behalf too.

What Clients Can Expect

Mark proudly stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his clients in their business and helps them make crucial decisions that will help further their ultimate goals. He is well-respected for always taking a pragmatic, business-centric approach to existing and potential problems. Mark’s clients know that he will always study and see the full chess board moves ahead - not only during active litigation, but also by routinely providing risk avoidance strategies to help clients avoid business decisions that could lead to litigation.

Mark draws from decades of high-stakes experiences to provide decisive advice and counsel customized to solving a client’s individual problems. Mark prides himself on being the consummate value-add for his clients by being able to quickly analyze the competing variables on complicated disputes, how they will or might impact the client, and by providing multi-dimensional, strategic and practical risk-management advice to the client no matter the industry or scope of the problems at issue. Mark is always mindful of his clients’ time and money and is fully committed to surpassing the highest standards of client service along with demonstrable, substantive expertise in the most economical way forward.

Outside the Office

When Mark isn’t working he is spending time with his wife of 30 years Dawn, and their awesome dog Chloe; Mark’s greatest pride comes from his two, adult sons Brett, 27, with a master’s degree from Notre Dame in Data Analytics and a senior analyst at FanDuel, as well as his youngest son Dylan, 25 who is a Vanderbilt University law school graduate and a capital markets and banking transactional attorney for a top New York law firm.

Mark is an avid, quasi obsessive Philadelphia Eagles football fan, who proudly notes that he can one day “die in peace” having lived to witness his beloved Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl victory over the Patriots which he attended live in Minneapolis with his oldest son. Mark also has a deep love and passion for television, movies, content, all things WWE, music, Alabama football (due to Dawn’s alumni status), and poker, where he has played The World Series of Poker Main Event on three separate occasions and sets reaching a final table at a bracelet event as still on his life list.

Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America© 2023 and 2024 Editions in the Commercial Litigation category

• The Legal 500 United States (2015, 2016)
• Recommended in Dispute Resolution: Securities litigation – defense
• New York Metro "Super Lawyer" (2011 to 2017)

Proof Points

• Appointed Federal Equity Receiver by the Middle District of Florida in connection with an SEC Enforcement Action arising out of an alleged $40 million plus investment management fraudulent scheme.
• Senior counsel who helped secure a pre complaint $500m settlement against feeder fund and financial institution in connection with the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
• Lead counsel to former independent director being sued for corporate malfeasance by the Small Business Administration arising out of the bankruptcy of two small businesses.
• Lead counsel to former executives of public companies in securities fraud cases and post merger securities class actions upwards of $500m