Pravin Rao is a partner in the firm’s Litigation practice and firmwide Co-Chair of the Investigations &
White Collar Defense practice. He is uniquely positioned as a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, as well as
an SEC Enforcement Branch Chief, to provide comprehensive representation and counseling to clients on
a wide variety of complex criminal and civil regulatory matters. Recently, Pravin was appointed to be
FCPA Monitor of a large multinational corporation to oversee its governance reforms in connection with
a deferred prosecution agreement and settlement with the DOJ and SEC. Pravin has also served as a
court-appointed examiner in a federal bankruptcy proceeding where he was tasked with investigating a
company managing over $100 million in pension assets.
Pravin has drawn on his unique securities and commercial fraud background to assist individuals and
FORTUNE 500 companies in responding to government inquiries. He regularly conducts internal
investigations in significant and sensitive areas, including those with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
(FCPA), financial fraud, anti-trust, and corporate governance issues. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he
supervised and developed strategies in grand jury investigations focusing on complex financial fraud and
computer intrusion cases. Pravin served as an Enforcement Branch Chief with the SEC, where he
directed numerous high profile investigations and litigation matters, including revenue recognition,
insider trading, and broker-dealer issues. Pravin has a unique perspective from conducting parallel
investigations with the SEC, CFTC, and other regulators in complex cases involving large publicly traded
companies, officers and directors, broker-dealers, and hedge funds.
Pravin is a frequent commentator in the press on the government's fraud enforcement efforts and the SEC,
especially where these topics intersect the criminal arena, and has been quoted in the national media as
well as regularly writing and speaking to in-house counsel and industry groups on these same topics. He
received his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, MBA from the Olin School of Business
at Washington University, and BS in Mathematics from the University of Michigan.