Benito Romano Partner MAIN OFFICE: New York Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 787 Seventh Avenue New York, N.Y. 10019-6099, U.S.A. T 212-728-8258 F 212-728-9258

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Benito Romano is a partner in the Litigation Department and Chair of the White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York.  Mr. Romano specializes in complex criminal and civil litigation in all phases leading to trial, including criminal and regulatory investigations.

Mr. Romano is a member of the American Bar Association, Section on White Collar Crime Practice; the New York State Bar Association, Section on Trial Practice; the Federal Bar Council; and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Chair, Litigation Committee. He serves as a member of the Magistrate Selection Panel for the Southern District of New York.

Over the last decade, Mr. Romano has been a lecturer or participant in panel discussions before practicing attorneys on numerous topics related to federal criminal law.

Prior to his return to private practice, Mr. Romano served as United States Attorney, representing the United States in all criminal and civil court proceedings in the Southern District of New York. He supervised approximately 160 Assistant United States Attorneys in the Criminal and Civil Divisions of his office. Prior to assuming the position of United States Attorney, Mr. Romano served in a variety of supervisory and executive positions in that office.

Mr. Romano has represented public companies, board committees and individual officers in internal investigations and in a wide variety of criminal and regulatory investigations, prosecutions and related civil litigations.  Representative engagements have included:

• An Audit Committee created by a major municipality to investigate underfunding of public employee pension obligations and nondisclosures in bonds offerings.
  
  
• The Board of a major credit card bank in an internal review of the personal expenditures of a senior officer.
  
  
• Members of an Audit Committee in a criminal investigation and related civil litigation arising from an internal investigation of accounting practices that had been corrupted by company officers.
  
  
• A leading supplier of dialysis services in a criminal investigation and related civil investigation of government supported services provided on the basis of allegedly unreliable clinical tests.
  
  
• An independent Board member of a high tech public company in an options back-dating internal investigation, government investigation and related civil litigation.
  
  
• The Board of a major supplier of dialysis services in an investigation of options back-dating practices at an acquired subsidiary.
  
  
• The Nominations Committee of a major international media enterprise in connection with compliance with internal and New York Stock Exchange director independence requirements.