Overview
Anthony Capozzolo is an experienced attorney who advises individuals and corporations in complex white-collar matters, including criminal, regulatory and internal investigations. Mr. Capozzolo brings with him a combined twenty years’ experience as a federal prosecutor and as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, having tried dozens of cases to verdict. Those many years of criminal litigation experience have proven invaluable for clients who have been charged in criminal or civil actions.
As a private defense attorney, Mr. Capozzolo has vindicated his clients’ rights in matters where he successfully intervened and persuaded federal or local prosecutors to refrain from filing criminal charges or taking regulatory action against individuals or entities who were under scrutiny.
Mr. Capozzolo has been involved in matters and litigation involving the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the New York Attorney General’s Office, the New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY), the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), the New York City Business Integrity Commission (BIC) and many other agencies.
Mr. Capozzolo has also represented local governments and employees facing scrutiny by federal investigators. He represented elected and appointed government officials in connection with federal and state investigations, including a police department detectives union. In all matters, no criminal charges were ever filed.
Mr. Capozzolo understands how corruption-related cases are built by prosecutors and how to defend them. As an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), Mr. Capozzolo was assigned to the Public Integrity Section. In that capacity, Mr. Capozzolo conducted several high-profile matters involving federal, state and local public officials suspected of a variety of criminal misconduct, including bribery, RICO, tax, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Mr. Capozzolo led the investigation and prosecution resulting in the conviction of a sitting United States congressman—at the time, the first in New York State in over twenty years—and helped prosecute an assistant commissioner in the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development for, in part, having accepted over $1.5 million in bribes. In addition, Mr. Capozzolo prosecuted matters involving the misappropriation of public contract funds, corruption of union officials and embezzlement of union benefit funds.
Beyond his litigation experience, Mr. Capozzolo was also appointed a CHIP coordinator (Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property section) for which he was called upon to provide legal guidance on issues involving government electronic surveillance techniques and the use of eavesdropping and computer search warrants.
Before working for the federal government, Mr. Capozzolo served fourteen years as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where he was appointed deputy unit chief of the Firearms Trafficking Unit. During his tenure, Mr. Capozzolo tried dozens of felony cases to verdict for crimes including conspiracy, murder, assault, robbery, narcotics distribution, embezzlement, and grand larceny.
Professional Affiliations
- Criminal Advocacy Committee, New York City Bar
Experience
- Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York
- Assistant District Attorney, Deputy Unit Chief, New York County District Attorney’s Office
- Law Clerk to Judge Vincent E. Hull, Jr., Superior Court of New Jersey, Criminal Term
Publications & Events
- July 2021
Mr. Liston, an attorney for Rogicki in both the SEC and state court matters, told Law360 on Friday that his client has "accepted full responsibility for his actions.", an attorney for Rogicki in both the SEC and state court matters, told Law360 on Friday that his client has "accepted full responsibility for his actions."
www.law360.com, October 20, 2017
In the News
Global Investigations Review has ranked LBKM as one of the world’s leading firms for cross-border investigations.
November 15, 2024An Orange County judge vacated the grand larceny conviction of Martin Soudani and voided the order for him to pay restitution to his uncle, Mout'z Soudani. She said the case was tainted by payments of up to $63,000 Mout’z Soudani allegedly made to Assistant District Attorney Stewart Rosenwasser during the investigation and prosecution.
Albany Times Union, October 17, 2024Anthony Capozzolo, a former federal prosecutor who represented a key figure in the Nxivm sex trafficking case against Keith Raniere, said that in the case against Mr. Combs, the government seemed eager to keep him detained in part because there might be witnesses who would be more willing to speak with Mr. Combs in jail.
“The same thing happened in the Nxivm case,” Mr. Capozzolo said. “Once he was locked up and people thought the air of invincibility was shattered, they were able to get even more witnesses.”
New York Times, September 18, 2024“This case had many flaws,” said Angerame’s lawyer Anthony Capozzolo. “The clients had their reputations tarnished in a way that simply was not fair or just.
“We are thankful for this decision, and the clients are eager to move on with their lives.”
New York Post, July 29, 2021In what defense attorneys characterized as a rare outcome for a government corruption indictment, a Manhattan judge dismissed charges that the New York Attorney General’s office brought against a former World Trade Center electric operations manager and two subcontractors.
[Judge] Wiley dismissed the full indictment based on testimony before a grand jury, which Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss partner Adam Kaufmann said is a not a common outcome for a bribery indictment filed by the AG. “Indictments don’t get tossed on grand jury minutes to begin with,” Kaufmann said. He added: “This was one of the most deeply flawed cases I have ever seen.”
New York Law Journal, July 28, 2021"The most initial impact on Trump himself will be financial," Anthony Capozzolo, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office and a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told Insider. "One of the biggest collateral effects of a company being indicted is its banking relationships and other business relationships because, immediately, all of those companies have obligations, especially banks that are highly regulated. They are obligated to not do business with companies breaking the law."
Business Insider, July 2, 2021Mr. Truppel was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to time served, with no supervisory probation or fine imposed, and was allowed to return to Argentina.
March 17, 2020Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Capozzolo — who headed a tax fraud case against former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm and other high-profile investigations — was retained by the city when Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas launched an investigation last year, in conjunction with an audit into the city’s payout practices by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.
LI Herald, August 29, 2019Anthony Capozzolo and John Moscow are quoted in ABC News about the recent Manafort cooperation agreement and sentencing issues.
www.abcnew.go.com, November 28, 2018- Federal prosecutors investigating former Trump lawyer view October 2016 tape as trigger for burying potentially damaging information, people familiar with the matter say
Mr. Cohen’s apparent change of heart on buying Ms. Clifford’s silence, after the “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced and nearly capsized Mr. Trump’s campaign, could help investigators make the link, said Anthony Capozzolo, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn who handled corruption cases. [...] “Access Hollywood” tape “is exactly the kind of evidence that beats that argument,” by helping prosecutors frame the Clifford payment as a response to the damage the tape inflicted on Mr. Trump’s campaign, said Mr. Capozzolo.
The Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2018 - The types of cases that the U.S. Justice Department will pursue is uncertain in Trump administration
"If you’re a public-integrity prosecutor, and you’ve been doing that for five years, you know who all the players are,” said Anthony Capozzolo, a former prosecutor in the Eastern District.
The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2016 Anthony Capozzolo, counsel at Lewis Baach PLLC in New York who spent six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York primarily, agreed. He told Bloomberg BNA that one of the biggest reasons the government didn't go forward was because the Supreme Court's decision “eviscerated” the government's case.
The ruling made it “nearly impossible to prove attempts,” Capozzolo said.
Bloomberg BNA, September 28, 2016- New York Law Journal, September 26, 2016
“The Department of Justice views this decision as having a material effect on the way they’ve been prosecuting quid pro quo cases in the past,” said Anthony M. Capozzolo, a former federal prosecutor, who interpreted the McDonnells’ decisions as “a sign that they’re going to handle these cases differently.”
The New York Times, September 8, 2016Such an apparent disagreement is not uncommon, said Anthony Capozzolo, a former federal prosecutor who handled public corruption cases in New York. But he told the Two-Way that the Justice Department's action is a "game changer" that could impact other public integrity cases.
"The government had a good case in terms of jury appeal," Capozzolo said. "But it appears the department's decision is solely based on the view that McDonnell's activity did not rise to the level of the standard in the Supreme Court decision."
September 8, 2016A U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia imposed a below-Guidelines sentence for a Syrian-born U.S.citizen who pleaded guilty to providing equipment to forces opposing the Syrian regime in violation of U.S. sanctions laws.
Associated Press, June 10, 2016The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Puerto Rico and the U.S. government may not prosecute individuals for the same crimes in a case that tested the limits of the territory's sovereignty, an issue that has become increasingly urgent as the commonwealth has struggled with a massive debt problem.
Law 360, June 9, 2016- A former Siemens executive became the first person to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges of helping run a bribery campaign that moved tens of millions of dollars to Argentine officials in connection with a $1 billion national ID card project.
Mr. Francos is mentioned in the article.
Law360, September 30, 2015
Practice Areas
Education
- George Washington University Law School (J.D. 1994), Vice-President of Intrascholastic Competition, Moot Court Board
- Marist College (B.S. Magna Cum Laude 1991)
Bar Admissions
- New York
- New Jersey
- U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey