A former enforcement attorney with FINRA, John is known for his strategic thinking and ability to quickly anticipate the direction of complex matters. Transparent and practical with clients, he looks for opportunities to narrow the focus of a dispute, while remaining thorough and dedicated to addressing the decisive issues.
Financial industry participants face constant challenges from evolving regulations and changing enforcement priorities. As a partner with Bell Nunnally’s Litigation practice group, John leverages more than a decade of sophisticated commercial litigation experience and several years serving as an enforcement attorney for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to provide efficient, practical solutions to financial institutions and executives in regulatory investigations or litigation. John also represents clients of all types in high-stakes and complex business disputes.
John most recently served as senior counsel in FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. At FINRA, he led investigations into securities violations and prosecuted formal disciplinary actions against broker-dealer firms and their registered representatives in matters involving securities fraud under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and misrepresentations in the sale of securities under Sections 11 and 17 of the Securities Act of 1933. He also prosecuted matters involving violations of Regulation Best Interest, the registration requirements of Section 5 of the Securities Act, the Anti-Money Laundering provisions of Bank Secrecy Act, data privacy issues under Regulation S-P, and off-channel communications and other records retention violations under Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act.
Prior to his time at FINRA, John spent 13 years in private practice as a litigator in a preeminent trial boutique and with a Chambers-rated international law firm, where he honed his skills in representing clients in a range of high-stakes litigation and represented private parties in investigations by the SEC, DOJ, FTC, and other regulatory agencies. He has tried cases in U.S. District Courts and in Texas state courts involving a wide range of business disputes. He has also argued and briefed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and various Texas state courts of appeals.
John clerked for the Honorable Catharina Haynes, Circuit Court Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.