Biography

Mr. McGrath is a partner in the Securities & Financial Litigation Practice Group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. His practice is focused on white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, securities fraud and complex commercial litigation. He has handled a wide variety of criminal and civil cases in both federal and state court.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. McGrath worked as a federal prosecutor for 15 years in the Eastern District of New York and the District of Massachusetts. He was Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in the District of Massachusetts and a member of the Organized Crime Unit in the Eastern District of New York, where he participated in prosecuting the leaders of four of New York’s five organized crime families.

As a federal prosecutor, Mr. McGrath was lead counsel for numerous criminal investigations and trials, involving charges of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, mail and wire fraud, bid-rigging, extortion, embezzlement, money laundering, computer hacking, loan sharking, illegal gaming, tax evasion and drug trafficking. He was lead counsel in a four month trial of the leadership of New York’s Greek organized crime family, convicting the “Greek Godfather” of murder and racketeering and obtaining a sentence of life imprisonment.

Mr. McGrath has also successfully briefed and argued numerous appeals in both the First and Second Circuit. He defended the conviction of the Boss of the Luchese crime family on 52 counts of racketeering and murder and defended the conviction of the bomb maker who killed one Boston Police officer and seriously injured a second officer.

Mr. McGrath received one of the Department of Justice’s highest honors, the Director’s Award for Superior Performance, for his prosecution of the New York Mafia, and received numerous awards and citations from various federal and state law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the DEA, the U.S. Customs Service, the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service. He also conducted numerous training sessions before federal law enforcement agencies regarding criminal discovery obligations and effective investigative techniques.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. McGrath served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where he focused on tax prosecutions. Since his return to private practice, Mr. McGrath has represented numerous companies and individuals involved in federal criminal and civil investigations including Department of Justice and SEC investigations. He has also obtained immunity for a number of individuals involved in a federal grand jury health care fraud investigation, helped obtain a dramatically reduced sentence for a corporate officer charged with a multi-million dollar tax and accounting fraud, and helped executives in two federal fraud investigations avoid criminal charges. He has also represented clients faced with charges under the federal False Claims Act and has successfully represented mutual funds faced with class action and shareholder derivative suits involving market timing and late trading. He has also counseled clients on the RICO and Foreign Corrupt Practices Acts.

Education

J.D., Harvard Law School (1980)

B.A., Columbia College, magna cum laude (1976)

Admissions

• Massachusetts
• New York

Courts

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits
• U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York