David Massey, Former USAO SDNY on Offshore Bank Prosecutions, Moves to Law Firm (12/13/13)

David B. Massey, a prosecutor, heavily involved in the prosecution of Swiss banks (including Wegelin) and bankers has left USAO SDNY to join Richards Kibbe & Orbe.  See Matthew Goldstein, Prosecutor Who Oversaw Swiss Bank Case Moves to Private Practice (NYT DealBook 12/12/13), here.  Key excerpts:

During his nine years as an assistant federal prosecutor in New York, Mr. Massey led the prosecution of the Swiss bank Wegelin & Company, which was indicted in February 2012 on charges of helping United States citizens hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service. The private bank pleaded guilty this year to a tax evasion conspiracy charge and paid $74 million and fines and restitution.

David's bio information on the law firm website is here.  The firm's main webpage is here.

Kevin Downing Joins Miller & Chevalier (5/31/12; revised 6/4/12)

Reports are circulating that Kevin Downing is resigning effective June 4, 2012.  See David Voreacos, Tax Division’s Downing Said To Resign From Justice Department  (5/31/12), here.  Kevin Downing, an attorney in DOJ Tax CES, has been a key player in the DOJ offshore juggernaut since the John Doe Summons proceeding against UBS.  Downing has been frequently mentioned in this blog.  See collection of blogs based on "Downing" search, here.  I would normally have posted this item on the page for "News / Rumors on Offshore Evasion,." I thought that some readers may want to comment on this news, and thus needed a dedicated place to make those comments.  I remind readers to keep the comments appropriate.  I will not approve them if they are not appropriate.

Before stirring up trouble in the offshore account arena, Mr. Downing stirred up trouble over the KPMG tax shelters in SDNY which is where I first encountered him.  He has been busy in his DOJ Tax CES career.  I'll just say that I encountered Mr. Downing in the KPMG individual defendant criminal prosecution.  I observed that he is a zealous advocate and true believer in the righteousness of his cause.  At least in the KPMG matter, as the court ultimately held, the ends sought by the prosecution team on which Mr. Downing served did not justify the means the team chose to achieve the ends.  United States v. Stein, 541 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2008).

Addendum 6/4/12: Main Justice (the web publication) reports that Mr. Downing is joining Miller & Chevalier. See Elizabeth Murphy, Longtime Tax Division Lawyer Joins Miller & Chevalier (Main Justice 6/4/12), here.  MIller & Chevalier's web site is here and the firm's announcement for Mr. Downing's joining is here.