Martin L. Perschetz

Martin L. Perschetz is a partner in the New York office, co-chair of the Litigation Group and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. He concentrates his practice in the areas of white-collar criminal defense, SEC enforcement, securities litigation and accountant's liability. With the firm for almost 25 years, Marty was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he was chief of the Major Crimes Unit and led a team of prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of federal criminal cases involving a wide variety of complex business and tax frauds. Immediately before coming to SRZ, he served as chief counsel to the Mayor of New York City's Special Commission to Investigate City Contracts and as deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation. Drawing on more than three decades of broad and deep prosecutorial, investigative, defense and trial experience, Marty has represented a wide array of clients in significant matters involving federal and state prosecutors, the SEC, the NYSE and FINRA, as well as in large and complex private civil litigation and in corporate internal investigations. His clients in recent securities and financial statement matters have included PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Big Four accounting firm auditors; investment funds Millennium Partners and The Clinton Group, and former senior officials at Merck, Vivendi Universal, Kmart Corp. and other large companies.

Most recently, in the Vivendi Universal matter, following a four-month trial in the Southern District of New York, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Marty’s client, Vivendi’s former Chief Financial Officer, on all claims against him. Believed to be the largest federal securities class action ever to proceed to a jury verdict, the case involved numerous complex issues under the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, and under U.S. and French Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The American Lawyer named Marty a Litigator of the Week for his successful work on the Vivendi trial. In two ongoing federal securities class actions, Marty is representing a public company in the Central District of California, and, in the Merck securities litigation arising from the company’s development and marketing of the pain reliever Vioxx, the former President of Merck Research Laboratories.

Selected Speaking Engagements

Memberships

American Bar Association
Federal Bar Council 
New York City Bar Association 
New York Council of Defense Lawyers

Other Distinctions

Named “Litigator of the Week” by The Am Law Litigation Daily for his defense of former CFO in In re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Securities Litigation
Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys
The Best Lawyers in America
New York Super Lawyers

Bar Admissions

• New York

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Education

Prior Experience

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, 1980-86 
   Chief, Major Crimes Unit, 1985-1986
Chief Counsel to City of New York Special Commission to Investigate City 
    Contracts, 1986
Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, 1986
Associate, Obermaier, Morvillo & Abramowitz, 1977-80