Joseph Moreno, Esq.
Joseph Moreno, a former federal prosecutor, is a partner in Cadwalader's White Collar Defense and Investigations Group. Dual qualified to practice in the United States and as a solicitor in England and Wales, Mr. Moreno has extensive litigation and crisis management experience handling complex matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Defense, and other domestic and international regulators and law enforcement agencies. Representative matters have involved money laundering and terrorist financing, cybersecurity and data breach response, securities and accounting fraud, insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the UK Bribery Act, and other criminal and civil matters.
Mr. Moreno rejoined Cadwalader after serving at the U.S. Department of Justice in the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, where he investigated and prosecuted international money laundering, material support, structuring, and terrorist financing cases. He was also appointed a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases and successfully argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Moreno has extensive experience handling classified litigation pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act, and in government surveillance matters relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the USA PATRIOT Act. In 2011, he was awarded the Anti-Defamation League's SHIELD Award for his prosecution of the "DC Metro Bomber" case.
In 2014, Mr. Moreno was appointed as a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where he served on the staff of the FBI 9/11 Review Commission. In that position, Mr. Moreno assisted the Commission in its Congressionally-directed mandate to evaluate the FBI's performance in addressing the threat of domestic and international terrorism. He has also testified before Congress as an expert on domestic and international terrorist financing.
A decorated combat veteran, Mr. Moreno is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and has served on active duty as a military prosecutor in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2004, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq. In 2005, he served as the legal advisor to a multinational counterterrorism task force in Djibouti. Mr. Moreno is a recognized expert in the area of international and operational law, and is a regular speaker before military and civilian audiences in the United States and overseas. He serves as Co-Chairman of Cadwalader's Veterans Affinity Network.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Mr. Moreno was an associate in the Structured Finance and White Collar Crime Groups at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. In 2014, he was named to Stony Brook University’s “40 Under 40” Alumni list, and received the Distinguished Veteran Alumni Award from St. John’s University. Mr. Moreno was named a “Rising Star” by Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers Magazine in 2014 and 2015, a "Super Lawyer" in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and a “Future Leader" in Who’s Who Legal: Investigations 2018.
Mr. Moreno earned his undergraduate degree in political science, cum laude, from Stony Brook University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, his J.D., cum laude, from St. John's University School of Law, where he was a Senior Staff Member of the St. John's Law Review, and his M.B.A. with Honors from St. John's University Peter J. Tobin College of Business. He is a member of the bars of the State of New York and the District of Columbia, and is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. Mr. Moreno is also a certified public accountant (CPA).