Overview
Thomas Sjoblom is a highly experienced trial lawyer who represents individuals and entities in government investigations and law enforcement actions, as well as shareholder lawsuits, involving a variety of complex securities matters. He represents officers and directors of publicly traded and privately held companies; financial institutions, including banks, brokers, dealers, investment advisers, investment companies, and hedge funds; lawyers, both in-house and outside counsel; and accountants. He represents clients in nearly every stage of civil and parallel criminal investigations and proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Department of Justice, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, state attorneys general, and state securities commissions. Thomas also appears on behalf of clients before various state supreme courts and federal appellate courts and has filed petitions for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thomas' clients include chairs, CEOs, CFOs, and other officers and directors of public companies, general counsel of public companies and hedge funds, officers of privately held companies, brokers, dealers, promoters, principals and traders of hedge funds, accountants, school boards involved in issuing municipal bonds, outside securities counsel, and investors. He handles matters involving financial fraud, including financial statement presentation, options backdating, and intercompany transfers within hedge fund complexes; Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; insider trading; market manipulation; best execution practices of mutual funds, investment advisers, and brokers; hedge funds; international securities fraud; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; reverse mergers; SEC periodic reporting, including reports filed by international companies; press releases on material events; unregistered offerings; challenging global SEC receivership proceedings; presidential pardons; and criminal pleas.
Prior to entering private practice, Thomas spent nearly 20 years at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He served as special counsel in the SEC's Division of Market Regulation (now Division of Trading and Markets), where he advised the Commission on trading market practices. He then litigated those issues on behalf of the SEC as assistant chief litigation counsel in the SEC's Division of Enforcement. He primarily focused on market manipulation but also litigated and tried cases involving financial fraud, insider trading, and a panoply of other violations. While at the SEC, Thomas also served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, the Western District of New York, and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In that capacity, in conjunction with the U.S. attorney's office for each district, he co-prosecuted several individuals indicted for market manipulation, bank fraud, and tax fraud.
Additionally, Thomas has deep international experience. He appeared on behalf of the U.S. government in several court proceedings in Europe and the Netherlands Antilles. Thomas has also been called upon by several European and Asian governments and securities exchanges to advise them on investigating and prosecuting market manipulation and market abuse schemes, as well as on drafting statutes, regulations, and codes of conduct outlawing market abuse and insider dealing, including England's HM Treasury, the Market Directorate of the European Union, the Finansinspektionen in Sweden, and the securities regulator in the Philippines.