On this episode of inSecurities, Chris and Kurt explore the wide-ranging universe of coronavirus-related fraud schemes with Fabio Leonardi, an Assistant United States Attorney and the Coronavirus Fraud Coordinator for the Northern District of Texas, and Lesley Brovner, a defense attorney in Manhattan and seasoned prosecutor who served as the former First Deputy Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Investigation.
Featured in this Episode
Fabio Leonardi
A white-collar crime prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Fabio Leonardi currently serves an Assistant United States Attorney in the Economic Crimes and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Leonardi was appointed as the Coronavirus Fraud Coordinator for the Northern District of Texas. In this role, he directs the district’s prosecution of Coronavirus-related fraud schemes, working alongside numerous enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the SEC, CFTC, FDIC, IRS, FTC, SBA, FDA and HHS, as well as the State Attorney General’s Office and the State Securities Board. He also serves on the U.S. Department of Justice’s nationwide hoarding and price gouging task force charged with addressing COVID-19-related market manipulation. Mr. Leonardi is the Chair of both the D.C. Bar’s Criminal Law steering committee as well as its White Collar Crime subcommittee. He has also taught financial crime and tax fraud as an Adjunct Law Professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Leonardi began his career in private practice, working as a litigator in Washington, D.C.
Lesley Allison Brovner
Lesley Brovner is a founding partner of Peters Brovner LLP, a boutique NYC law firm. Peters Brovner focuses on internal investigations, white collar/regulatory defense, and other rapidly emerging situations that pose substantial reputational and financial risk.
Prior to co-founding Peters Brovner, Lesley Brovner served as First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) from 2014 to 2018. While in this role, Ms. Brovner directed complex criminal and civil investigations, oversaw the issuance of all agency reports and supervised DOI’s counsel’s office.
Prior to working at DOI, Ms. Brovner was a prosecutor for almost two decades at the New York State Attorney General’s Office and the Queens District Attorney’s Office. During that time, she prosecuted numerous matters, including: political corruption, consumer fraud, tax fraud, antitrust violations, social security fraud and the unlicensed practice of nursing and medicine. Ms. Brovner also has extensive appellate experience including before the New York State Court of Appeals. Finally, Ms. Brovner served as the Chief Compliance Officer for the New York State Liquidation Bureau.
Ms. Brovner received her J.D. from American University, Washington School of Law. She received her B.A. from New York University.
