Back to Attorneys

Stephen E. Frank

Partner
Quick Actions
Offices }
Frank, Stephen
Frank, Stephen
Stephen E. Frank
stephenfrank@quinnemanuel.com
Biography Recent News Practices Representations

Steve Frank, a nationally recognized former federal prosecutor, is a member of the Firm’s Investigations, Government Enforcement and White Collar Criminal Defense Group. He is resident in the Firm’s Boston and New York offices. An acclaimed trial lawyer, Mr. Frank represents companies and individuals in investigations by regulators and law enforcement authorities in the United States and around the world, as well as in high-stakes civil litigation, including securities, patent, antitrust, and other commercial disputes. Mr. Frank also provides advice and counsel to corporate entities in connection with the design, testing, and implementation of corporate compliance programs. 

Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, Mr. Frank served for nearly 17 years as a federal prosecutor in New York and Boston, where he served in various leadership capacities, including as the longtime Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. In that role, he led a team of more than a dozen federal prosecutors and investigators responsible for investigating and prosecuting a variety of complex financial crimes, including securities and investment fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

While at the Department of Justice, Mr. Frank served as lead trial counsel in some of the most significant white collar prosecutions of recent years, including “Operation Varsity Blues,” a groundbreaking case that secured the conviction of more than 50 individuals in the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted, for which Mr. Frank received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. Mr. Frank also led the investigation and prosecution of a prominent Russian businessman in one of the largest hack-to-trade cases ever charged, and the prosecution of several senior executives of the world’s largest custody bank in connection with a scheme to overcharge pension funds for billions of dollars’ worth of securities trades. In the course of his work, Mr. Frank oversaw corporate resolutions with numerous multinational companies. At the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Mr. Frank was a member of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, where he was part of the trial team that secured the conviction and life sentence of the acting boss of the Bonanno Crime Family.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Frank was an award-winning financial reporter at the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, where he appeared regularly on the network’s flagship morning program, Squawk Box.  A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Frank was only the third person in Harvard University history to be selected to deliver both the undergraduate and graduate orations at the university-wide Commencement ceremonies.  Following his graduation from law school, he worked as an associate at a law firm in New York and clerked for the Honorable Robert D. Sack on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Practice Areas

Notable Representations

Corporate Matters (Government)

  • United States v. eBay, Inc. (D. Mass. 2024)
    DPA, $3 million criminal penalty, and corporate compliance monitor, to resolve charges arising out of harassment and intimidation campaign targeting Massachusetts couple, and for obstruction of the government’s investigation.
  • United States v. State Street Corp. (D. Mass. 2021)
    DPA, $64.6 million in U.S. monetary payments, and corporate compliance monitor, to resolve charges of defrauding transition management clients by applying hidden commissions to securities trades.
  • United States v. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (D. Mass. 2019)
    NPA, total monetary payments of $231 million, and corporate compliance monitor, to resolve investigation into improper payments to state officials in multiple countries in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
  •  United States v. Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (D. Mass. 2018)
    Civil settlement involving $4.9 billion in U.S. monetary payment—the largest imposed by the Justice Department for financial crisis-era misconduct at a single entity under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act—to resolve claims that U.S. subsidiaries misled investors in issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities.
  • United States v. Georgeson, LLC (D. Mass. 2017)
    DPA, $4.5 million criminal penalty, and corporate compliance consultant, to resolve charges of conspiring to bribe an employee of a proxy advisory firm to obtain confidential information about its clients’ votes on shareholder proposals.
  • United States v. State Street Corp. (D. Mass. 2017)
    DPA, $115 million criminal penalty, and corporate compliance monitor, to resolve charges of defrauding custody clients by overcharging for out-of-pocket expenses.
  • United States v. Analogic Corp. (D. Mass. 2016)
    NPA, total monetary payments of $14.8 million, to resolve investigation into improper payments by BK Medical subsidiary to third parties in Russia, and related books and records falsifications, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Individual Matters (Government)

  • United States v. Klyushin (D. Mass. 2023)
    Prosecuted a prominent Russian businessman in connection with a $90+ million hack-to-trade scheme, one of the largest such schemes ever prosecuted.
  • Operation Varsity Blues (D. Mass. 2019–2022)
    Supervised a team of prosecutors in securing the conviction of dozens of parents, university athletic coaches, and others in connection with the largest college admissions fraud ever uncovered by the Department of Justice, and served as lead trial counsel in the only cases to proceed to trial.
  • United States v. McLellan, et al. (D. Mass. 2018)
    Prosecuted an executive vice president of State Street Corporation and two other senior executives in connection with a scheme to overcharge pension funds by inflating the value of billions of dollars’ worth of securities trades.
  • United States v. Bray (D. Mass. 2016)
    Prosecuted a prominent Boston-area real estate developer and a senior bank executive for insider trading in the bank’s stock.
  • United States v. Prange, et al. (D. Mass. 2013)
    Prosecuted five corporate executives for fraud in the microcap securities markets.
  • United States v. Bochinski, et al. (D. Mass. 2013)
    Prosecuted two leaders of a nationwide, multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.
  • United States v. Basciano (E.D.N.Y. 2011)
    Prosecuted the acting boss of the Bonanno Crime Family for murder-in-aid-of-racketeering and related charges.
  • United States v. Antico (E.D.N.Y. 2010)
    Prosecuted Genovese Crime Family captain for racketeering and related charges.

 

Education

  • Harvard Law School
    (J.D., magna cum laude, 2004)
    • Harvard Law Review:
      • Notes Editor
  • Harvard College
    (A.B., Social Studies, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1995)
    • The Harvard Crimson
      • Editorial Chair

Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • New York

Languages

  • German

Prior Associations

  • United States Attorneys’ Offices
    • Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief, Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit, 2017-2024
    • Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief, Economic Crimes Unit, 2013-2017
    • Assistant U.S. Attorney – District of Massachusetts, 2012-2024
    • Assistant U.S. Attorney –  Eastern District of New York 2008-2012
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
    • Litigation Associate, 2005-2008
  • Law Clerk for the Honorable Robert D. Sack:
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2004-2005
  • CNBC
    • Broadcast News Editor, 1998-2001
  • Wall Street Journal:
    • Staff Reporter, 1996-1998

Publications and Lectures

Articles

  • “Reports of the death of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may be exaggerated: Executive Order likely spells near-term shift, not demise,” February 21, 2025, Reuters (Stephen E. Frank, Sarah Heaton Concannon and Sam Nitze)

Firm Client Alerts

Books

  • NetWorth: Successful Investing in the Companies That Will Prevail Through Internet Booms and Busts Wall Street Journal Books/Simon & Schuster (2001)
  • The Wall Street Journal Guide to Who’s Who and What’s What on Wall Street Ballantine (1998) (contributing author)

Recent Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker, CNBC CFO Council Summit, December 2024
  • Panelist, Hot Topics in SEC and DOJ Enforcement & Litigation Conference, October 2024
  • Panelist, Boston Bar Association White Collar Crime Conference, May 2024
  • Panelist, Boston Bar Association White Collar Crime Conference, May 2023
  • Panelist, Hot Trends in SEC and DOJ Enforcement & Litigation Conference, February 2022