Profile

Sharon McCarthy

Partner,
Kostelanetz LLP

My Contact Information

Kostelanetz LLP
New York, NY
Work: 212-840-6866

Social Links

Chapter Location

New York

Bio

Sharon L. McCarthy is a partner at Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, in New York City, where she focuses on white-collar criminal matters, and civil and criminal tax controversies.  Prior to joining Kostelanetz & Fink in 2006, Ms. McCarthy spent twelve years at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and as Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit.  From May 2008 until April 2009, Ms. McCarthy served as Special Counsel to the New York State Attorney General in an investigation into political interference with the New York State Police. 

In January 2011, Ms. McCarthy was appointed by the New York City Police Commissioner to serve on the Crime Reporting Review Committee, whose final report was issued in 2013. 

Ms. McCarthy is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.   In 2013, she successfully represented Denis Field, the former CEO of BDO Seidman, in a major tax shelter trial in the Southern District of New York. After he had been convicted on all counts in 2011, Ms. McCarthy obtained Mr. Field’s acquittal on all counts in a re-trial, in a case described by the government as the largest criminal tax fraud in history.

In April 2015, she was the first woman elected to serve as President of the Fordham Law Alumni Association.    She also has served in leadership roles for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American College of Trial Lawyers. From 2008 to 2019 she was a member of the First Department’s Committee on Character and Fitness.  She currently serves on the Judiciary Committee of the New York City Bar. 

Ms. McCarthy is a 1985 graduate of Colgate University and a 1989 graduate of Fordham Law School, where she was an Articles Editor on the Fordham Law Review.  After law school, Ms. McCarthy served as a law clerk to the Honorable John F. Keenan, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

She is married to Fordham Law classmate Antonio Molestina, General Counsel of ABN Amro Bank, and they are the proud parents of twins Ana and Alejandro.   Ana attends Colby College, where she is majoring in Anthropology and a member of the swim team, and Alejandro attends the Rhode Island School of Design (“RISD”), where he is majoring in graphic design.  

 

Practice Areas

  • Corporate Crime
  • Internal Investigations
  • Tax Controversy
  • Trials
  • White Collar Crime