Jerome C. Pontrelli is Labaton Sucharow's Director of Investigations. A 21-year law enforcement professional who spent 12 years with the FBI, Mr. Pontrelli has extensive knowledge in white collar crime matters.
Mr. Pontrelli manages a staff of seasoned investigators and former law enforcement personnel, and oversees investigations while working closely with Firm attorneys and other professionals to identify, develop, document and prosecute cases, up to and including the trial phase. Mr. Pontrelli further augments the teams' investigative capacity through a highly developed network of private investigators on the national and international level, and through contacts in the accounting profession.
Prior to joining Labaton Sucharow, Mr. Pontrelli was a senior investigator at a New York-based securities litigation law firm where he worked on actions involving the subprime industry, auction rate securities litigations and actions involving health care companies. He also worked on ERISA litigation, consumer protection litigation, and was the lead investigator on their Madoff investigation team which provided valuable evidence to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Mr. Pontrelli began his career with the FBI under Covert Special Operations as a Team Leader on the TWA Flight 800 crash investigation, as well as the Oklahoma City Bombing trial security detail. He later transferred to the White Collar Crime Health Care Fraud Unit where he spearheaded several multimillion-dollar fraud cases that included Qui Tam civil suits. Mr. Pontrelli was later assigned as a special agent to the NYC Joint Terrorism Task Force Operations Center, targeting terrorist "sleeper cells" within New York City and throughout the country.
Mr. Pontrelli's 12 years with the FBI as a Special Agent resulted in a highly successful and decorated career. He was awarded the U.S. Customs Service Directors Commendation in 1999; New York City FBI Special Agent of the Month for September 2000; and FBI Director's Commendation in 2001.
Mr. Pontrelli graduated from the FBI Academy in 1996.
