Shawn G. Crowley is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. A highly accomplished former federal prosecutor with a successful track record in high-profile criminal and commercial matters, Shawn helps corporate and individual clients to navigate and resolve complex internal and government-led investigations, and to implement effective compliance and remediation programs.
Shawn has a diverse white-collar practice, representing companies and individuals in connection with white-collar criminal defense and investigations by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and state and local enforcement agencies. These matters and investigations have included, among other things, alleged insider trading, securities and wire fraud, sanctions evasion, money laundering, and diversion of controlled substances. Shawn also maintains a broad civil practice, including advising clients in matters concerning allegations of harassment and discrimination, as well as contractual and labor and employment disputes.
Shawn joined the firm after serving for more than six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, during which time she investigated, supervised, and prosecuted a variety of cases, including matters involving terrorism and national security offenses, sanctions violations, money laundering, cyber-terrorism, opioid diversion, and international narcotics trafficking. Shawn was Co-Chief of both the Narcotics Unit and Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit, supervising dozens of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, investigators, and other personnel in investigations, prosecutions, and trials involving a wide range of national security, drug trafficking, and white-collar offenses.
Notable cases that Shawn supervised include the first-ever felony charges against an opioid distributor, Rochester Drug Co-Operative, and its former chief executive officer and chief compliance officer, in 2019, which resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement, imposition of a monitorship and $20 million fine, and guilty pleas; sanctions evasion, money laundering, and fraud charges against Türkiye Halk Bankasi A.Ş. or “Halkbank,” for its alleged participation in a multi-billion-collar Iranian sanctions-evasion scheme; the capital prosecution of Sayfullo Saipov for the alleged 2017 truck attack in Tribeca; and the coordinated narcotics-trafficking charges against five doctors and two other health care professionals for oxycodone diversion in 2018. Shawn also supervised the 2020 prosecution of the sitting president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and other high-level Venezuelan officials, on charges of narco-terrorism and weapons offenses.
Shawn has tried numerous cases as a prosecutor, including those involving terrorism offenses, money laundering, opioid diversion, racketeering, murder, and narcotics trafficking. These included the trial and conviction of the so-called “Chelsea Bomber,” Ahmad Khan Rahimi, for perpetrating a terrorist attack bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in October 2016, and the trial and conviction of Akayed Ullah for his attempted suicide bombing in the Times Square subway station in 2017. Shawn has likewise briefed and argued numerous appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her contributions to public service have been recognized with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Litigative Team and the U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General’s Award.
Shawn previously served as a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, where she supervised externships for law students within the Southern District of New York. She began her career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP where she maintained a broad commercial litigation practice with a focus on matters involving violations of federal securities and antitrust laws, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Shawn received her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar, a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar, the editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, and a recipient of the Alfred S. Forsyth Prize for Excellence in Environmental Law. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University.