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Disgraced Former UBS GC Now a Williams & Connolly Partner
The American Lawyer
August 10, 2009
Department of Treasury's David Aufhauser
Sometime in the last year, with no fanfare, Williams & Connolly welcomed David Aufhauser back to the firm. Aufhauser possesses the sort of gilded resume entries that any firm would covet: former general counsel and managing director of banking conglomerate UBS, and a former general counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
But Aufhauser has another entry in his biography that makes his return to Williams & Connolly somewhat surprising. Last October he settled charges with New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo that he engaged in insider trading at UBS, agreeing to pay $6.5 million. As part of the settlement, he also agreed not to practice law in the state of New York for two years.
According to Cuomo's statement announcing the settlement, Aufhauser's trading occurred during the auction rate securities crisis. On Dec. 14, 2007, Aufhauser was riding the Amtrak Acela train from New York to Washington, D.C., when he read an e-mail sent that day by UBS's chief risk officer. The message described serious problems with UBS's auction rate securities market. A few minutes later, Aufhauser sent an e-mail to his financial adviser and told him to sell all of his auction rate securities, according to the statement.
The District of Columbia Bar's Web site shows no disciplinary actions taken against Aufhauser. (He is not a member of the New York bar.)
It's unclear when Aufhauser rejoined the elite Washington, D.C., firm.
Aufhauser did not return a call to his office today. We also made a call to the firm, but have not heard back.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
