Rachel L. Fiset

Complex Civil Litigation & White-Collar Defense

Los Angeles

Rachel Fiset's 19 years of experience in complex litigation and white-collar criminal defense was ignited in law school, where she was drawn to the thrill of the courtroom, the art of crafting persuasive arguments and her comfort with conflict.

One of her most notable achievements this year was her involvement in the landmark case representing the former chief product officer of a cryptocurrency firm, a pivotal figure who exposed fraudulent activities leading to over $40 billion in investor losses. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd., et al 1:23-cv-01346 (N.Y.S.D, filed Feb. 16, 2023).

His testimony during the two-week trial in the Southern District of New York was crucial to the jury's understanding of the case, particularly in demonstrating that the defendants' blockchain was falsely advertised as being used for payment settlements in a Korean mobile app.

Fiset's client's testimony shed light on the fact that merchants were not paid with cryptocurrency, contrary to the company's claims.

"Knowing his role was so central to the jury's understanding of the facts, the challenging issues in the representation generally dealt with making a very complicated subject understandable to a jury," Fiset said. "This case marks the largest cryptocurrency fraud case in the country to date."

Another success this year was receiving a declination from the SEC in a two-year-long investigation into a successful business venture relating to consumer investments in consumable products.

Fiset said the investigation addressed multiple issues of first impression relating to what constitutes a "security" and how the care and handling of the products affected that designation.

"As with many investigations, it is a long steady slog to persuade the government that your client acted properly. This case was no different," she said. "We had particular challenges with explaining the nature of the business and valuation of the product and how that affected the marketing initiatives of the client. In the end, we had a meeting of the minds."

Fiset has also been defending a civil trade secrets case into flight control systems that appears to have spurred a criminal investigation into her client. Moog, Inc. v Skyryse Inc., et al., 2:22-cv-09094 (C.D. Cal., Dec. 15, 2022).

"Recently, we achieved a favorable civil settlement for our client and are now working through the remainder of the criminal investigation which is based on the same conduct," she said.

As far as trends go, Fiset said PPP fraud investigations resulting from alleged fraud during the global pandemic seem to continue to gain momentum in both the civil and criminal divisions throughout California.

"As these cases can garner lucrative settlements for the government, I expect these cases to continue to play out over the course of the next couple of years," she said.