Former Nixon Peabody Partner Sues Firm, Alleging He Was Made Scapegoat in SEC Investigation

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David Tamman, who was formerly employed with Nixon Peabody as a partner, sued the firm in recent days.

In 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission cited Tamman for his part in the alleged investment scam involving former client Beverly Hills–based NewPoint Securities. The SEC claims the attorney modified and falsified documents the client used to conceal the fact that, according to the October 28th amlawdaily.com article, “Former Nixon Partner Sues Firm, Says He Was Made Scapegoat in SEC Probe”, “investments billed to investors as “low risk” were actually being used to construct a mansion for the company’s co-owner.”

  

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Tamman is suing Nixon Peabody on the grounds that the firm blamed him for the entire matter, and took away the majority of his $1.5 million practice away from him.

Tamman’s complaint was filed last week in California Superior Court in Los Angeles. It identifies what the attorney alleges are numerous actions the firm took to blame Tamman for everything related to the NewPoint scandal on him, as well as to put distance between the firm and the SEC investigation to protect its reputation its self-insured malpractice policy.

The SEC sued NewPoint and several of its top executives in 2010 accusing the financial services firm of both securities fraud and the unregistered sale of securities. In addition, the SEC also froze NewPoint’s assets, and placed the company into receivership, after obtaining and injunction from a federal court.

Tamman was employed with the firm for approximately two years. In the complaint, he states he brought NewPoint with him as a client from Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor, where he served as senior counsel before joining Nixon. He also states in the in the complaint that he was not the only Nixon attorney who represented the company. Per the complaint, Nixon partners Edward O’Callaghan, William Kelly, and Robert Bernius and associate Matthew Grazier are listed as also providing counsel in the NewPoint representation.

According to the article, the complaint states: “Far from supporting him, his partners, with whom he had consulted and whose advice he had followed upon every step … had abandoned him, as has Nixon.”

Per the article, Nixon Peabody spokesman Brian Moynihan was quoted as having said in a statement that the firm fired Tamman “as soon as we learned that he was under SEC investigation and he failed to explain his actions to us.” As well, the firm said it “has acted completely appropriately in cooperating with the SEC on this issue.”

Stanton Phillips and James Wohl are representing Tamman. Phillips and Wohl each have their own law offices in Los Angeles.

Nixon Peabody LLP has over 800 attorneys in 25 major practice areas. It is one of the largest multipractice law firms in the United States, with offices in seventeen cities in the United States, as well as in London, Paris, and Shanghai.