John W. Keker

Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP lead name partner John W. Keker is a veteran of decades of jury trials in white collar criminal cases, complex commercial and intellectual property litigation as well as securities and antitrust matters. He’s currently battling for reduced bail and a new trial for client Sushovan Hussain, a former Autonomy Corp. chief financial officer convicted last year following a nine-week trial and sentenced to five years in prison for accounting fraud against Hewlett-Packard Co. in its acquisition of Hussain’s United Kingdom-based firm. U.S. v. Hussain, 3:16-cr-00462 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 21, 2016). In June 2019 a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals motions panel ruled on the Keker team’s motion, filed by New York colleagues at Shapiro Arato Bach LLP. The panel granted the bail motion pending Hussain’s appeal, noting that it raises a substantial question of law or fact that could “result in reversal or an order for a new trial of all counts…” U.S. v. Hussain, 19-10168 (9th Cir., motion filed May 21, 2019). “We’ve been very involved” in the post-trial work said Keker, who was Hussain’s lead trial counsel and is pushing hard to overturn the verdict. Following the motion panel’s ruling in favor of bail, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco set the amount at $10.1 million.

“Grotesquely unreasonable,” Keker said. “It is encouraging to have the motion panel’s ruling, but it will likely be a different panel of judges that decides the appeal.” The issues on appeal include whether the wire fraud statute applies to foreign nationals working abroad, like Hussain and whether Hussain’s conduct was sufficiently connected with any U.S.-listed security to constitute securities fraud under U.S. law, Keker’s pleadings say.Also on Keker’s docket is client Wetlands Preservation Foundation’s suit against the California Department of Water Resources and The Nature Conservancy over their alleged mismanagement of an island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The complaint contends that the defendants’ acts threaten the long-term viability of the 9,000 acre Staten Island, northwest of Stockton, and its wintering sandhill crane population.

“There’ll be a bench trial in November in Stockton,” Keker said. “We’re seeking a writ of mandate to compel the defendants to promote wildlife diversity and sustainable agriculture. We hope to save the winter home of this prehistoric, magnificent bird. Without this suit, the danger is that levies will fail, the island will sink and the cranes won’t have anywhere to go.” Wetlands Preservation Foundation v. Department of Water Resources, STK-cv-UMW-2018-8957 (San Joaquin Super. Ct., filed July 23, 2018).

It’s the diversity of work that keeps his engaged, Keker said, adding, “I hate the idea of specialization.”

— John Roemer