Caleb Hayes-Deats

Caleb Hayes-Deats is an accomplished trial lawyer who has secured highly-valued wins for his clients. He represents companies and individuals in high-stakes government investigations and commercial disputes. He has been recognized as a “Rising Star” in D.C. by the National Law Journal and in New York by Super Lawyers. The Legal 500 has praised his “ability as a cross-examiner,” honed through “substantial experience as a prosecutor.” His practice spans all levels of the judicial system and many different industries.

Mr. Hayes-Deats represents companies and individuals in government investigations, including under the False Claims Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions programs, and the tax and securities laws. His representations have covered a wide variety of subjects, ranging from healthcare investigations by the Department of Justice, to allegations that financial institutions failed to maintain effective anti-money laundering programs, and even to impeachment proceedings before Congress.

Mr. Hayes-Deats represents both plaintiffs and defendants in his civil practice, focusing on disputes over intellectual property and complex financial transactions. He has recovered millions on behalf of plaintiffs, both at trial and through settlement. He has also helped defendants navigate the legal and public relations risks that accompany civil suits.

Before joining MoloLamken, Mr. Hayes-Deats was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As an AUSA, Mr. Hayes-Deats had high-profile wins against Fortune 500 companies in cases under the False Claims Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, and the tax laws. In 2016, he was part of a team that, after a five-week False Claims Act trial, won the 18th largest jury verdict in the country, according to the National Law Journal’s Top 100 Verdicts of 2016. Mr. Hayes-Deats also helped settle high-stakes cases, winning the Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Mr. Hayes-Deats has taught as a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. His views have appeared in media coverage by the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, Law360, and Bloomberg Law.

Before working as an AUSA, Mr. Hayes-Deats clerked for the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

Representative Matters

• Representing global energy company’s former chief financial officer on charges of misreporting income and foreign bank accounts

• Representing lighting technology company in patent dispute with competitor (Jiaxing Super Lighting Elec. Appliance Co. v. CH Lighting Tech. Co., No. 23-1715 (Fed. Cir.))

• Represented publisher of mobile games in breach of contract suit against Meta, defeating motion to dismiss (AppQuantum Publishing Ltd. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., No. 23 Civ. 1539 (N.D. Cal.))

• Represented Humane Society before U.S. Supreme Court in defeating challenge to constitutionality of California law prohibiting in-state sales of certain types of pork (National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, 598 U.S. 356 (2023))

• Represented veterinary orthopedic implant company in evidentiary hearing over whether medical device used for tibial plateau levelling osteotomy infringed patents and fell within scope of injunction (Depuy Synthes Prods., Inc. v. Veterinary Orthopedic Implants, Inc., No. 3:18 Civ. 1342 (M.D. Fla.))

• Represented medical device manufacturer on claims that competitor infringed patent covering drug reconstitution device (Baxter Int’l v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., 22-2197 (Fed. Cir.))

• Represented executives of laboratory company in investigation under Animal Welfare Act and Clean Water Act

• Represented Revlon in securing dismissal of a bankruptcy adversary proceeding concerning lending transactions (AIMCO CLO 10 Ltd. v. Revlon, Inc., Adv. Proc. 22-1167 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.))

• Represented senior banker at global financial institution in connection with DOJ investigation into allegations of tax evasion and money laundering

• Represented healthcare company executive in DOJ antitrust investigation into price-fixing allegations

• Represented Merck in Federal Circuit affirmance of PTAB decision upholding validity of pharmaceutical patents (Mylan Pharm. Inc. v. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., 50 F.4th 147 (Fed. Cir.))

• Secured dismissal of RICO claims against prominent law firm (Fiorilla v. Citigroup Inc., No. 22 Civ. 6189 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Represented employees of real estate developer in investigation of alleged violations of campaign finance laws

• Represented former Amazon employee in fraud and contract dispute over development of data centers in northern Virginia (Amazon.com, Inc. v. WDC Holdings LLC, No. 20 Civ. 484 (E.D. Va.)

• Represented class of investors that secured $250 million securities fraud settlement against Alibaba (Christine Asia Co., Ltd. v. Ma, No. 15 MD 2631 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Obtained $24 million lost-profits award for power-plant developer following a week-long bench trial before the New York Supreme Court (Indeck Energy Servs. v. Merced Capital, L.P., No. 652171/2014 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.))

• Represented State Department official in impeachment inquiry by Congress into the conduct of the President of the United States

• Represented finance chairman of political action committee in investigation into alleged violations of campaign finance laws

• Defended Medicare Advantage provider network against competitor’s application for injunction prohibiting market entry (Abdou v. DaVita Inc., No. 16 Civ. 2597 (D. Nev.))

• Represented publicly traded business development company pursuing claims under Rules 14a-3 & 14a-9 in connection with a proposed merger (Medley Capital Corp. v. NexPoint Advisors, L.P., No. 19 Civ. 2055 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Represented certificateholders of residential mortgage-backed securities trusts in Article 77 dispute over the distribution of a $2.375 billion settlement fund (In re U.S. Bank, N.A., No. 651625/2018 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.))

• Won a $298.5 million False Claims Act verdict after a five-week jury trial (United States v. Americus Mortg. Corp., No. 12 Civ. 2676, 2017 WL 4117347 (S.D.N.Y 2017), aff’d sub nom. United States v. Hodge, 933 F.3d 468 (5th Cir. 2019))

• Secured $1.2 billion False Claims Act settlement against Wells Fargo (United States v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No 12 Civ. 7527 (S.D.N.Y))

• Defended the United States against AIG’s claim for a $306 million refund of taxes and penalties (AIG, Inc. v. United States, No. 09 Civ. 1871 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Secured settlement of first ever assessment by FinCEN against a financial institution’s Chief Compliance Officer (Treasury v. Haider, No. 15 Civ. 1518 (D. Minn))

• Secured $70 million settlement of FinCEN assessment against US Bank for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (Treasury v. U.S. Bank, N.A., No. 18 Civ. 1358 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Obtained injunction against attorney who promoted tax shelters worth $130 million (United States v. Levine, No. 14 Civ. 4057 (S.D.N.Y.))

• Won summary judgment disallowing a $4 million tax deduction (Partita Partners LLC v. United States, 216 F. Supp. 3d 337 (S.D.N.Y. 2016))

• Litigated a Title VII claim against the N.Y.C. Department of Education for a high school principal’s systematic discrimination against all black teachers she supervised (United States v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Educ., No. 16 Civ. 4291 (S.D.N.Y)) 

Publications

• Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers on Alert, Law360 (Jan. 8, 2024) (with Poppy Alexander)

• SuperValu & the False Claims Act’s Common-Law Roots, The National Law Journal (June 22, 2023)

• FinCEN’s Whistleblower Program Sharpens Focus on Money Launderers, Bloomberg Law (Feb. 7, 2023) (with Poppy Alexander)

• False Claims Act Action Starts Against PPP Lenders, Bloomberg Law (Oct. 7, 2022)
• Aerojet Rocketdyne Cybersecurity Trial Could Be DOJ Bellweather, Bloomberg Law (Apr. 22, 2022)
• Appraising the Unknown: How Courts Calculate Theft of Trade Secret Damages, Corporate Disputes Magazine (Apr.-Jun. 2022 issue) (with Gerald Meyer and Jordan Rice)
• How Litigation Skills Helped My Family Cope with COVID-19, Bloomberg Law (Oct. 21, 2021)
• The New Whistleblower Program AML Professionals Should Know, ACAMS Today (Sept. 3, 2021)
• The SPAC Explosion Poses Litigation Risk, Corporate Disputes Magazine (July - Sept. 2021 Issue) (with Gerald Meyer)
• Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: A Guide to Types of Litigation and Associated Risks That Frequently Follow Broken Deals, Private Equity Law Report (May 11 & 18, 2021) (with Justin Ellis)
• False Claims Act Litigation Will Follow the Stimulus Package. Here’s How to Avoid It, The National Law Journal (Apr. 5, 2020) (with Jessica Ortiz)
• ‘Hodge’ Brings Circuits into Alignment on Mortgage Fraud Claims, The National Law Journal (Oct. 21, 2019)
• The Trump Row Aside, Here’s How Subpoena Recipients Can Respond Effectively, The National Law Journal (Aug. 27, 2019) (with Justin Shur & Allison Gorsuch)
• Congressional Subpoenas: If the President Can’t Resist Them, Who Can?, The National Law Journal (Aug. 20, 2019) (with Justin Shur & Allison Gorsuch)
• How Broad Is “Scheme” Liability Under Rule 10b-5 Following Lorenzo v. SEC?, ABA Securities Litigation Practice Points, Apr. 5, 2019 (with Jessica Ortiz & Michelle Parthum)
• The U.S. Supreme Court Case That Could Significantly Expand Civil Liability under the Federal Securities Laws, ABA Securities Litigation Practice Points (Mar. 6, 2019) (with Jessica Ortiz & Michelle Parthum)
• The Little Known Third Option of FIRREA & FIAFEA, ACAMS Today (Mar.-May 2019)
• Revisiting the Right to Fair Warning After Garcia v. Does, 14 First Amend. L. Rev. 182 (2015)
• Demonstrators’ Right to Fair Warning, 13 First Amend. L. Rev. 140 (2014)
• Talk That Isn’t Cheap: Does the First Amendment Protect Credit Rating Agencies’ Faulty Methodologies from Regulation?, 110 Colum. L. Rev. 1818 (2010)