Tim Howard is a partner in our New York office who serves as the firm’s Global Co-Head of Data and Technology. He has over a decade of high-ranking government experience, including serving as Chief of the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and a detail to the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s National Security Division. Tim also served as General Counsel for a multinational company with a global customer base and operations across Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Tim leverages his extensive government, in-house, and private practice experience to counsel clients on complex internal and government-facing criminal and regulatory investigations, compliance exercises, data security matters, and related civil litigation.
As an accomplished trial lawyer and investigator, Tim has managed significant white collar cases across a wide range of disciplines, including securities and investment fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, cryptocurrency fraud, sanctions, health care fraud, consumer fraud, government contracting fraud, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and tax fraud, among others. He has particular specialty in managing complex data issues in the context of internal and government-facing investigations, which includes advising on ephemeral messaging and artificial intelligence risks, in addition to his extensive experience managing all aspects of data incident response, cyber governance, and other data security issues.
At Freshfields, Tim routinely...
Private Practice Experience
Tim's deep experience in data security and complex white collar cases in private practice includes representing and advising:
White Collar/Government Investigations
- A public US-based technology company in connection with a parallel SEC/SDNY securities fraud investigation related to public statements made about the operations of the platform, which resulted in no charges against the company;
- A public life sciences company related to a cyber-enabled fraud event, including responding to a regulatory inquiry into governance, accounting and cyber controls by the SEC, which resulted in no regulatory action;
- A government contractor in connection with an SDNY public corruption investigation related to members of the New York City Mayor Eric Adams administration;
- A European bank on responding to a DOJ government inquiry related to potential US sanctions violations;
- A foreign-based fund regarding a DOJ investigation into potential FARA violations;
- A global technology company with respect to an investigation into a consumer fraud scheme occurring on its infrastructure, including developing a coordinated strategy for affirmative litigation against the perpetrators and law enforcement engagement;
- An international financial institution in connection with an SDNY/SEC investigation into securities fraud related to mortgage-backed securities; and
- Multiple employees of an international financial institution in connection with an SDNY/SEC investigation into securities fraud.
Data Security
- A global manufacturing company in connection with a US Department of Homeland Security investigation into data security following a ransomware event, which resulted in no regulatory action;
- A global travel company in connection with multiple data breach incidents, including managing crisis response and engagement with regulatory authorities in the US, UK and EU;
- A US-based technology company in connection with an insider threat data incident, involving responding to regulatory inquiries in the Netherlands, by various US State Attorneys General, and defending related US civil class action lawsuits;
- A global manufacturing company in connection with a massive global data theft incident, including coordinating regulatory engagement in the US, UK, EU and cooperation with US law enforcement authorities;
- A global consumer products company regarding a software vulnerability in a consumer product, including responding to a coordinated investigation by State Attorneys General;
- A global travel assistance company with respect to achieving and maintaining HIPAA compliance;
- A global technology company regarding mitigating intellectual property litigation risks arising from the development of consumer-facing artificial intelligence applications;
- Trade associations representing the interests of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to file an amicus brief in support of a motion to dismiss in SEC v. SolarWinds Corp. & Timothy Brown, related to alleged inadequate disclosures following a cyber breach; and
- A global company in the hospitality industry with respect to ephemeral/off channel messaging policies.
DOJ Experience
Tim’s notable prosecutions at SDNY include:
- Charges exposing a wide range of Iran state-sponsored cyber attacks, including Iranian interference in the 2020 US Presidential Election, a massive global hacking campaign engaged by the Mabna Institute to hack into universities and companies around the world, and a campaign of destructive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against the US financial sector (for which Tim received the 2016 Federal Bureau of Investigation Director’s Award for top cyber investigation);
- The unmasking and conviction of Ross Ulbricht, the founder and operator of the Silk Road darknet website for the distribution of over $200 million worth of narcotics, computer hacking tools, fake identity documents, and money laundering services using the Tor network and Bitcoin (for which Tim received the 2015 Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in his role as trial counsel);
- The prosecution of leaders of OneCoin in connection with a billion-dollar international cryptocurrency fraud scheme;
- The first federal prosecution of individuals for engaging in a million-dollar non-fungible token (NFT) digital asset “rug pull” scheme;
- The prosecution of 18 former National Basketball Association players for defrauding the league’s health plan of millions of dollars;
- Corporate tax fraud cases against Swiss Life, Rahn & Bodmer Co., and Bank Hapoalim, and against individuals associated with the Panamanian law firm Mossack and Fonseca (known as the “Panama Papers”); and
- Multiple corporate FCPA investigations and resolutions.


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