Joint Committee Member

David Laufman, Partner

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

David Laufman is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He focuses his practice on federal enforcement actions, congressional investigations, corporate compliance, export controls and economic sanctions, and government contract bid protest litigation.

Mr. Laufman represents individuals and corporations in all phases of criminal proceedings, including grand jury investigations, trials, sentencings, appeals and other post-conviction proceedings. Drawing on his extensive investigative experience, he also conducts internal corporate investigations and represents individuals and corporations who are the subject of investigations by congressional oversight committees, congressional ethics committees, and Offices of Inspector General. In addition, he counsels corporations concerning compliance with applicable regulatory and criminal laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), export control and economic sanctions laws, the USA PATRIOT Act, money laundering statutes, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Mr. Laufman also represents individuals and corporations before the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Department of the Treasury to secure licenses and resolve alleged violations of U.S. economic sanctions laws. In addition, he represents individuals and companies before the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, State, and Defense regarding export licensing and related matters.

In the area of government contracting, Mr. Laufman litigates bid protests and counsels corporations on compliance with the False Claims Act and ethics and disclosure regulations. He also counsels clients regarding regulatory requirements under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS).

In addition, Mr. Laufman represents government contractor employees, as well as law enforcement agents and intelligence officers, in security clearance investigations and proceedings.

Mr. Laufman’s prior government service well equips him to assist clients in his practice areas. From 1996-2000, he served as an investigative counsel to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (House Ethics Committee), where he conducted public corruption investigations of Members of Congress. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Laufman served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he concentrated on prosecuting terrorism, espionage, export control, and other national security cases. In 2005, he served as lead trial counsel in the government’s successful prosecution of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, an American citizen who was convicted of providing material support and resources to al-Qaeda, conspiring to assassinate the President of the United States, conspiring to hijack and destroy aircraft, and other charges. For his work on the Abu Ali case, Mr. Laufman received the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement in Litigation, the Department of Justice’s highest award for excellence in litigation. Other notable cases that Mr. Laufman successfully prosecuted include United States v. Chandia, United States v. Khan (the “Virginia Jihad” case), United States v. Keyser, and United States v. Biheiri. For his work on the Virginia Jihad case, Mr. Laufman received the FBI Director’s 2007 Award for Excellence in Outstanding Counterterrorism Investigation.

Previously, Mr. Laufman served as Associate Independent Counsel to Joseph E. diGenova in the “Investigation Concerning the Search of William J. Clinton’s Passport Files During the 1992 Presidential Election Campaign.” In 1992-1993, he also served as Senior Associate Minority Counsel to the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 (the “October Surprise Task Force”), a bipartisan panel of the House of Representatives.