Vasu B. Muthyala
Counsel
Vasu Muthyala is a counsel in O'Melveny's Washington, DC office and a member of the White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice. He represents corporate and individual clients in criminal and securities-related enforcement, regulatory, and compliance matters.
Prior to joining O'Melveny, Vasu was a federal prosecutor for over seven years and an enforcement attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission for over three years. As a Senior Assistant United States Attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption section of the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Vasu specialized in investigating and prosecuting corporate and securities fraud violations including market manipulation, insider trading, accounting fraud, and Ponzi schemes. Vasu was also a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group of the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force created in November 2009 to investigate and prosecute financial crimes relating to the financial crises and economic recovery efforts. Vasu worked on matters with the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, he directed grand jury investigations and prosecuted cases involving public corruption, international contract corruption, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, asset forfeiture, money laundering, perjury, obstruction of justice, mail fraud, and wire fraud. As a federal prosecutor, Vasu first-chaired 15 jury trials to verdict and argued numerous appeals. Vasu received the Department of Justice Special Achievement Award in 2004, 2006, and 2007.
Prior to joining the US Attorney's Office, Vasu was an enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago, Illinois. While at the SEC, Vasu directed the investigation and litigation of cases arising under federal securities laws, including, financial fraud, insider trading, fraud in the offer, prime bank schemes, and market manipulation.
Illustrative Professional Experience
- Represented a major financial institution in an investigation by the SEC regarding Municipal Securities Rule Making Board (MSRB)
- Represented a national mortgage-servicing company in connection with a SEC investigation regarding the adequacy of disclosures in offering memoranda for residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS)
- Represented a multilateral financial institution in an internal investigation regarding whistleblower allegations of corruption
- Represent a high-ranking executive in an FCPA investigation
- Represent a global entity in connection with the implementation of an FCPA compliance program
- Represent a director in a conflict of interest investigation
- Represent a senior official in a Congressional investigation
- Represent an international manufacturer in an investigation by the Department of Energy regarding energy consumption standards
Professional Activities
Admitted to Practice, US District Court, Northern District of Illinois; US District Court, District of Columbia
Judicial Extern, Honorable Ronald S. W. Lew, US District Court, Central District of California
Board Member, Chair of the American Bar Association Securities Enforcement Subcommittee of the Criminal Litigation Committee; Pepperdine University School of Law Externship Program Advisory Committee; Asian Pacific American Bar Association Education Fund Advisory Board Member (Board Member 2007-2009)
Member, United States Chamber of Commerce’s US India Business Council; Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court; Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni; National Asian Pacific American Bar Association; U.S. Attorney’s Office, D.C. Diversity Committee (2010-2011)
Speaker:
- Trends Impacting Business In India & The Correct Compliance Response, US India Business Counsel Panel, Washington, DC (March 2013)
- Managing Cross Border Investigations in Today’s Enforcement Environment, Catalyst Powering Complex Legal Matters, New York City, NY (Jan. 2013)
- Best Practices in Fraud Investigations and Emerging Trends in SEC Enforcement, 37th Annual HNBA Conference, Seattle, WA (Aug. 2012)
- Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Understanding When and How the Act Will Impact You, 23rd Annual NAPABA Convention, Atlanta, GA (Nov. 2011)
- Capital Markets Training Program, Securities and Exchange Board of India and Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai, India (Nov. 2002)
Co-Author, The CFTC's New Era of Aggressive Enforcement, Criminal Litigation, American Bar Association Section of Litigation (2013);
FCPA Compliance in India: Making Headlines for the Right Reasons, Chamber of Commerce’s India Business Council (2012) with Ronak Desai; What’s
In Your Private Equity Portfolio? Not Knowing Could Result In Increased Risk Of Violating The UK Bribery Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Practising Law Institute (2012) with Richard Grime
Honors, Presented with the Rising Star Award by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of DC (Sept. 2012)