Tino M. Lisella

Tino Lisella is a former FINRA enforcement director and former federal tax prosecutor. Tino’s practice focuses on securities enforcement, civil and criminal tax controversy, and white collar litigation. He represents individuals and entities in complex securities matters and government investigations, as well as regulatory investigations and enforcement. Tino has firsthand knowledge of the boots-on-the-ground strategies and priorities that prosecutors and FINRA enforcement attorneys use to build their cases and the most effective strategies to defend against them.

Before entering private practice, Tino spent nearly a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, and more than five years at FINRA. He served as a director and principal counsel in FINRA’s enforcement department, responsible for supervising investigations involving sales practice violations of complex products, including syndicated conservation easements, variable annuities, and leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, and large-scale investigations involving anti-money laundering violations. He also served as a trial attorney and then assistant chief of the DOJ’s criminal tax division, where he led high-profile investigations and federal criminal tax prosecutions, including the prosecution of California businessman Masud Sarshar, who concealed more than $23.5 million in undeclared Israeli bank accounts.

Tino has significant experience in matters involving vulnerable adults and elderly customers.

Earlier in his career, Tino was a certified public accountant and tax consultant with a Big Four accounting firm.

• "FINRA Enforcement: Hot Issues and Current Trends, FINRA Arbitration, Enforcement, and Compliance Regional CLE Program, American Bar Association, Fort Lauderdale, FL (February 23, 2024)
• "Proving the Case: How to Defend a Deposits Case," ABA 40th Annual National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud and 13th Annual National Institute on Tax Controversy, Las Vegas, NV (December 8, 2023)
• "From Chatbots to Fraudbots – An Update on Fraud," 2023 ACLI Compliance & Legal Sections Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV (July 18, 2023)

• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (2017–2022)
  • Director, Department of Enforcement, Boca Raton, FL (2018–2022)
  • Principal Counsel, Department of Enforcement, Rockville, MD (2017–2018)
• U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (2007–2017)
  • Assistant Chief, Criminal Tax Division (2015–2017)
  • Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division (2013–2014)
  • Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York (2012–2017)
  • Trial Attorney (2007–2014)