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Kenneth Notter

Kenneth Notter is a trusted advocate for clients facing criminal charges or high-stakes government investigations. His clients have included senior corporate executives, senior government officials, and a former federal judge. He has litigated—and won—at every level of the judicial system, from trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A skilled trial lawyer, Mr. Notter has cross-examined witnesses at trial, deposed witnesses, and argued critical motions. With other members of the MoloLamken team, he won a complete acquittal in a high-profile campaign finance prosecution following a two-week jury trial in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Through strong advocacy, Mr. Notter has also guided clients to pretrial wins. He has persuaded courts to dismiss cases with prejudice and convinced prosecutors not to file charges at all. His pretrial briefing and oral advocacy have led prosecutors to offer clients extremely favorable deals to resolve serious charges.

When not in court, Mr. Notter frequently represents corporations and individuals in internal investigations. He has successfully led investigations of senior executives and public officials and guided executives and government employees through high-profile internal investigations. He has also advised clients facing scrutiny from regulatory agencies, such as the CFTC, FINRA, and the Department of Energy.

In his appellate practice, Mr. Notter has briefed federal appeals involving complex legal issues before the First, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits. He has also litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court, including in a merits case. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has repeatedly retained Mr. Notter to file friend of the court submissions to the U.S. Supreme Court in high-profile criminal cases.

Mr. Notter has written extensively on topics related to white collar defense and congressional investigations. His analysis has appeared in Law360, The National Law Journal, Bloomberg Law, and the Hedge Fund Law Report. Award-winning investigative journalists recently quoted Mr. Notter as an expert in white collar defense alongside a former U.S. Attorney in a story about potential witness tampering in the criminal cases against President Trump.

Before joining MoloLamken, Mr. Notter graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerome A. Holmes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Gerald J. Pappert of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. That experience clerking on trial and appellate courts has helped him to build cases that win at trial and hold up on appeal.

Representative Matters

White Collar & Investigations

Won acquittal on all charges against president of travel and hospitality company after a two-week federal criminal trial (United States v. Khawaja, No. 1:19-cr-374 (D.D.C.))
Won complete dismissal of federal civil suit accusing a commodities trader of market manipulation (Mish Int’l Monetary Inc. v. Vega Capital London, Ltd., No. 1:20-cv-4577 (N.D. Ill.))
Secured favorable settlement for Chief Compliance Officer of a global cryptocurrency company in CFTC proceeding (CFTC v. Zhao, No. 1:23-cv-1887 (N.D. Ill.))
Chief Operations Officer charged with conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud (D. Mass. pending)
Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of multinational technology company in bank fraud investigation (M.D. La. pending)
Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of payment processing company in bank fraud investigation (N.D. Ill. pending)
Treasurer of congressional campaign in federal criminal corruption investigation resulting in no charges (D.D.C.)
Spouse of high-profile Member of Congress in federal criminal corruption investigation (S.D. Tex.)
Former executives of prominent social media company in multiple federal criminal investigations (C.D. Cal., D.D.C., E.D. Va., S.D.N.Y.)
Witness in Special Counsel investigation (D.D.C.)
Casino employees in federal criminal investigation involving sports betting and ending in no charges (C.D. Cal.)
Professional services company in federal criminal investigation involving corruption allegations and resulting in no charges (E.D. Va.)
Financial professional in FINRA investigation (pending)
Senior financial services executive in internal investigation ending on favorable terms
Government employees in high-profile “leak” investigation ending in no adverse action
Senior executive of Fortune 100 company in federal false claims investigation resulting in no liability
Successfully conducted internal investigation of high-ranking public official in state government
Successfully conducted internal investigation for leading hospital system
Successfully advised foreign Chief Executive Officer regarding risks of criminal prosecution in the United States
Successfully advised clean energy start-up in Department of Energy Inspector General investigation

Complex Commercial Litigation

Won judgment for world-famous art museum in suit to protect its intellectual property rights (Musée du Louvre v. SEE Global Attractions, Inc., No. 22-cv-6733 (N.D. Ill.))
Obtained favorable settlement for leading French greenhouse manufacturer in patent suit (Houweling Intellectual Properties, Inc. v. Richel Group, No. 1:22-cv-6003 (N.D. Ill.))
Obtained favorable settlement for prominent Chicago publishing company (Control New MLSS, LLC v. Tribune Media Co., No. 2016-CH-07155 (Ill. Cir. Ct.))
Former executives of prominent social media company in multi-district litigation alleging social media addiction (N.D. Cal. pending)

Retired federal judge in contract dispute (N.D. Ind. pending)
Leading insurance company in federal civil RICO suit (D.S.C. pending)
Investment management firm in a commercial dispute with global investment bank (N.Y. Sup. Ct. pending)
Multinational bank seeking to recognize and enforce foreign judgment against a foreign sovereign (D.D.C. pending)
Obtained favorable out-of-court settlement for a leading education technology investment company in dispute with major credit card company
Putative class of purchasers of medical products in antitrust suit against medical-device manufacturer and distributors (S.D. Ill.)

Appellate

Won important merits-stage case involving the dormant Commerce Clause before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of official proponents of a California ballot initiative (National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, 598 U.S. 356 (2023))
Won appeal reversing dismissal of patent infringement suit for lack of Article III standing (Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Google LLC, 52 F.4th 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2022))
President of prominent healthcare technology company on appeal from convictions arising from alleged billion-dollar fraud (7th Cir. pending)
Former high-ranking government employee in petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging conviction for obstruction of justice (Saffarinia v. United States, No. 24-522 (U.S.) (pending))
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as merits‐stage amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving false-statement statute (Thompson v. United States, No. 23-1095 (U.S.) (pending))
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as merits‐stage amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court in cases involving mail, wire, and honest services fraud (Kousisis v. United States, No. 23-909 (U.S.) (pending), Ciminelli v. United States, 598 U.S. 306 (2023), Percoco v. United States, 598 U.S. 319 (2023))
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae in appeal from “Varsity Blues” prosecutions (United States v. Abdelaziz, 68 F.4th 1 (1st Cir. 2023))
Nobel-prize winning scientists in dispute over patent rights to revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing technology (Fed. Cir. pending)
Online directory before the Ninth Circuit in case involving First Amendment and state-law protections for directories of professional and business information (Martinez v. ZoomInfo Technologies, Inc., 90 F.4th 1042 (9th Cir. 2024) (en banc))
Victims seeking compensation for trafficking in their property that was wrongfully confiscated by Fidel Castro’s regime (11th Cir. pending)
Leading cellular wireless technology company in support of its petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court (Ericsson Inc. v. TCL Commc'ns Technology Holdings, Ltd., No. 20-1130 (U.S.))
Patent holder in support of a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court (PersonalWeb Technologies, LLC v. Patreon, Inc., No. 20-1394 (U.S.))
Leading economist and scholar as amicus curiae (In re EpiPen Antitrust Litig., 44 F.4th 959 (10th Cir. 2022))

Kenneth Notter

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