Attorneys & Professionals

Samson “Sam” Enzer is among the nation’s leading trial lawyers and strategic advisers in the digital financial technology space.

Sam is the Founder and Co-Chair of CahillNXT, the Cahill firm’s Chambers-Band 1-ranked Digital Assets and Emerging Technology practice, and a senior member of the firm’s top-ranked Litigation, White Collar Defense, and Investigations groups. Since launching CahillNXT, the practice has been recognized by Chambers as among the most elite “Band 1” law firms in FinTech, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency. Sam has also been recognized as a leading litigator and adviser in Crypto Asset Disputes and FinTech Legal by Chambers and Legal 500, as a national Law360 MVP in FinTech, and as a National Law Journal Trailblazer in FinTech, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency.

Sam has won successful outcomes for preeminent companies, billionaires, entrepreneurs, founders, developers, public officials, directors and officers in “bet the company” civil litigations, high-stakes criminal and regulatory enforcement proceedings, internal corporate investigations, and corporate crises, typically in cases at the intersection of digital assets, finance, and technology. Leading institutions regularly turn to Sam for strategic advice on hostile takeovers, investor activism campaigns, competitor misconduct investigations, mergers, acquisitions, capital raising, regulatory compliance, national security matters, and corporate governance issues relating to a wide range of emerging technologies and markets, including decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence (AI), data privacy and harvesting, online gaming and sports betting, and prediction markets.

Clients interviewed by Chambers called Sam a “secret weapon” who arms in-house counsel with “actionable advice,” an “exceptional adviser who combines the ability to navigate both contentious and non-contentious matters effortlessly,” and a “street-smart lawyer” who is “smart not only from a legal sense, but also from a business perspective.”

Sam has successfully persuaded criminal and regulatory enforcement authorities to decline to bring charges against targets of numerous government investigations, including in probes by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), New York Attorney General (NYAG), and other regulators. In disputes that could not be resolved without litigation, Sam has won numerous victories inside and outside of courtrooms for plaintiffs, defendants and intervenors in civil and criminal cases, including multiple triumphs in jury and bench trials, court and arbitration hearings, and appeals. Some of Sam’s recent victories include:

Persuading DOJ to dismiss its criminal tax indictment against Roger K. Ver a/k/a “Bitcoin Jesus” relating to his Bitcoin holdings.

Persuading the DOJ, SEC and CFTC to decline to bring charges against numerous prominent crypto market participants in closing out multiple high-profile investigations.
Winning dismissal of two Anti-Terrorism Act lawsuits asserting claims for billions of dollars in damages against a leading crypto exchange in New York and Alabama federal courts.
Winning a hostile takeover allowing a group of activist investors to acquire privacy coin development company assets valued at over $100 million for less than $10 million by leveraging pre-suit litigation demands.

Before joining Cahill, Sam served for eight years in the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), where he rose to become a senior member of the SDNY Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. As a federal prosecutor at SDNY, Sam led numerous high-profile investigations and prosecutions of a broad range of financial and other white collar crimes, including multiple groundbreaking crypto enforcement maters (several of which involved classified national security matters). For example, Sam spearheaded the first securities fraud prosecution in SDNY history arising from an initial coin offering (ICO), led DOJ’s crypto promotion fraud prosecution of McAfee antivirus software founder John D. McAfee, and prevailed in a hard-fought insider trading trial before legendary SDNY Judge Jed S. Rakoff. During his tenure at SDNY, Sam was nominated for the United States Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018 and received the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation’s Prosecutor of the Year Award in 2014. Sam has been described as “one of the leading cryptocurrency enforcement practitioners to come out of government service in recent years” by The National Law Journal and as the “SDNY Crypto Ace” by Law360.

Sam is a frequent speaker, news commentator, author and thought leader on cutting-edge issues concerning the regulation of digital financial technology including cryptographically secured assets, stablecoins, AI financial applications, and prediction markets. For example, Sam has appeared on televised CNBC, CBS, Yahoo Finance, and Fox Business programs and the popular Unchained podcast. He has also been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, CNN Business, Bloomberg News, and other major news outlets on various topics relating to digital financial technology ranging from FTX’s collapse to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Sam was also featured in the Netflix true-crime documentaries Bitconned and Biggest Heist Ever, both of which cover some of his high-profile criminal cases involving digital assets.

Sam serves on the lawyers’ advisory council for a non-profit organization offering educational opportunities to underprivileged inner city youth and provides pro bono representation to indigent criminal defendants.

White Collar Criminal and Regulatory Enforcement

Persuaded DOJ to dismiss its criminal tax indictment against Roger K. Ver a/k/a “Bitcoin Jesus” relating to his Bitcoin holdings.
Persuaded DOJ to pause its anti-money laundering compliance monitorship of a leading global digital asset trading exchange.
Secured declinations for high-profile targets of numerous criminal and regulatory enforcement investigations, including:

Convincing DOJ to decline to prosecute crypto washing trading charges against senior executives of a leading Layer-1 (L1) blockchain development company.
Convincing the SEC to decline enforcement of touting charges against a prominent digital asset market tracking service via successful Wells notice advocacy.
Convincing the SEC to decline enforcement of securities registration claims against the developer of a popular memecoin in an inquiry that reached the Wells notice stage.
Convincing the SEC to decline enforcement as to securities fraud and registration charges against the founder of a major yield-bearing Layer-2 (L2) blockchain development company.
Convincing the SEC to decline to charge broker-dealer registration violations against crypto asset managers, over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks, and market makers.
Convincing the SEC to decline enforcement of securities registration charges against the co-founder of a leading synthetic DeFi trading platform.
Convincing the SDNY and SEC to decline to bring insider trading charges against a former public official in investigations that resulted in charges against others.
Achieving no‑charge outcomes for the former head of trading at a crypto lending platform in DOJ, SDNY, SEC, CFTC, FTC and NYAG probes where others were charged.
Securing declinations for a SPAC underwriter and the founder of a de-SPAC merger target in DOJ, SEC and FINRA inquiries arising from various SPAC deals.
Securing a CFTC enforcement declination for the developer of a DeFi prediction markets platform.
Convincing the SEC to decline enforcement of charges relating to token airdrops for a Cayman foundation associated with a global AI-related crypto project.

Reduced the sentencing exposure of a FinTech entrepreneur, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder more than $12 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a crypto exchange hack, from life to five years in prison in one of the most high-profile DOJ crypto prosecutions in history, as featured in the Netflix documentary Biggest Heist Ever and in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other major media outlets.
Won no-charge outcomes for a DeFi wallet provider in several government investigations, including a DOJ national security investigation concerning money laundering by North Korea’s Lazarus Group and consumer fraud investigations by several states’ attorneys’ general.
Won no-charge outcome for the owner of a crypto mixing service “relayer” in DOJ and SDNY investigations concerning compliance with OFAC sanctions as well as money transmitter and anti-money laundering requirements.
Won no-charge outcome for an NFT project promoter in a DOJ Fraud Section investigation that led to “rug pull” scam indictments against others.
Advised a leading crypto exchange on novel Howey arguments that persuaded a federal court to reject the SEC’s claims that secondary market tokens trades constituted “investment contract” securities.
Represented amici curiae in pivotal SEC crypto enforcement litigations, including U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) in SEC v. Coinbase in the Second Circuit, The Digital Chamber in SEC v. Balina in the Fifth Circuit, and Coinbase in summary judgment litigation in SEC v. Ripple Labs.
Won no-charge outcome for the former COO of a global energy company in DOJ and SEC investigations arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.*
Won no-charge outcome for the former CEO of a foreign bank in anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance investigations by the DOJ, OFAC, and bank regulators.*
Secured relief from personal asset freeze for pre-IPO fund founders in an emergency SEC enforcement action.
Secured a no-jail probationary sentence for a former management consultant in a high-profile SDNY Public Corruption Unit prosecution.

Civil Litigation (Defense)

Won dismissal of Anti-Terrorism Act lawsuits asserting claims for billions of dollars in damages against a foreign digital asset trading exchange in New York and Alabama federal courts.
Won dismissal of a securities class action alleging that a global digital asset trading platform aided and abetted securities fraud and sales of tokens as unregistered securities by a merger counterparty.
Won dismissal of a consumer class action asserting Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) claims for hundreds of millions of dollars in fines against a DeFi wallet provider.
Defeated tokenholder activism litigation by risk-free value (RFV) raiders against the Swiss association behind a prominent decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
Defeated an alleged patent infringement action in Texas federal court seeking billions of dollars in royalites from a foreign digital asset exchange based on its U.S. transactions.
Persuaded a New York federal court to dissolve an asset freeze injunction against the founder of a decentralized memecoin trading exchange in litigation arising from the $LIBRA-gate scandal.
Defending several foreign crypto exchanges in litigations arising from the collapse of FTX, including in Delaware bankruptcy court and Florida federal court multi-district litigation (MDL) proceedings.
Defending the former chairman of the board of Prime Trust in Delaware bankruptcy court litigation arising from Prime Trust’s collapse.
Defending founders and officers of Solana-based decentralized memecoin trading platforms in proposed class actions alleging racketeering claims in New York federal courts.
Defending a foreign crypto exchange in a putative securities class action asserting damages claims based on alleged sales and trading of crypto assets as unregistered securities.
Defended Bank of America in reaching favorable resolutions of a multi-billion dollar securities fraud class action, SEC and NYAG enforcement actions, and shareholder derivative lawsuits arising from the bank’s $50 billion merger with Merrill Lynch.*

Civil Litigation (Plaintiff Side)

Won a hostile takeover allowing a group of activist investors to acquire privacy coin development company assets valued at over $100 million for less than $10 million by leveraging pre-suit litigation demands.
Won emergency injunctive relief in New York federal court disrupting a ransomware service for Microsoft by leveraging evidence from undercover investigative techniques to successfully prosecute racketeering, trademark infringement, and common law claims.
Won emergency Delaware Chancery Court litigation for a distressed lender to effectuate its corporate takeover of a popular blockchain-based video sharing platform following loan defaults.
Won recognition of unsecured claims for creditors to recover millions of dollars in crypto assets lent to a private jet chartering business in Florida bankruptcy court litigation.
Recovered tens of millions of dollars in advisory fees for a crypto-focused investment bank through pre-suit litigation demands.
Advised a corporate victim of a market manipulation scheme on loss recovery avenues through civil litigation, asset forfeiture, restitution, disgorgement, and fair funds in the wake of parallel criminal and regulatory enforcement proceedings.
Representing an early crypto project investor in pre-suit efforts to recover $1 billion in tokens which the project illegally froze.
Representing a prominent crypto asset manager in arbitration proceedings to recover over $100 million in breach-of-contract damages from one of the manager’s customers.
Advising crypto market participants on prediction markets-related litigation strategy.
Won a complete victory for a foreign crude oil producer at a London arbitration hearing on its $35 million insurance claim for property damage to an offshore oil platform.*

Regulatory and Compliance Advice

Advising a wide range of digital financial technology companies—including stablecoin developers, centralized and decentralized trading platforms, Bitcoin miners and mining pool operators, asset managers, market makers, investment funds and advisers, proprietary and OTC trading desks, memecoin and DeFi projects, staking and re-staking platforms, and others—on matters relating to compliance with U.S. federal and state laws, including the GENIUS Act, Bank Secrecy Act, FinCEN regulations, OFAC sanctions, Securities Act, Exchange Act, Investment Company Act, Investment Advisers Act, Commodity Exchange Act, state money transmitter laws, and New York BitLicense regulations.
Advising foreign crypto companies and billionaire entrepreneurs on compliance with U.S. national security laws and regulations, including the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), anti-terrorism financing regulations, sanctions and export controls, and customs and border protection and tariff requirements.
Conducted internal reviews for centralized exchanges (CEXs), decentralized exchanges (DEXs), DeFi platforms, and online gaming and sports betting companies relating to compliance with gambling, insider betting, anti-fraud, and anti-money laundering laws.
Advised leading U.S. digital asset trading exchanges and trained multiple banks on preventing regulatory enforcement risks from insider trading in crypto assets.
Advised a crypto market data aggregator on compliance with SEC and CFTC regulations, including those concerning broker-dealers, designated contract markets, futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, swaps, and derivatives.
Advised a prominent U.S. digital asset trading platform on Securities Act compliance concerning crypto lending and yield-bearing products.

Transactional Advice

Advised a crypto development company on launching a memecoin that achieved a multi-billion dollar market capitalization.
Advised Galaxy Digital in multiple mergers and acquisitions, including purchases of crypto staking-related assets and businesses.
Advised BlockTower Capital on its merger with Arca.
Advised sponsors on the launches of several publicly traded digital asset treasury companies.
Advising a crypto asset manager on acquiring a digital asset settlement network and associated capital raising transactions.
Advising several venture capital firms on minimizing regulatory compliance risks in connection with investments in startups in emerging markets, including AI, DeFi, and FinTech.
Provided due diligence and disclosure advice to the financing sources for 888 Holdings’ $2.35 billion acquisition of William Hill’s foreign gaming businesses.
Advised a global traditional asset manager and a leading non-profit organization on anti-money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and OFAC sanctions risk diligence for crypto transactions.
Provided diligence advice to a foreign digital asset exchange for an investment in a U.S. prime broker.

*Matters handled prior to joining Cahill.

Samson A. Enzer