Daren H. Firestone - Partner

Education

Northwestern Law School

magna cum laude
J.D. 2006

Harvard University

magna cum laude
B.A. 1997

Professional Associations

The Anti-Fraud Coalition, Financial Fraud Subcommittee
Member

The Anti-Fraud Coalition, IRS Subcommittee
Member

Washington DC Trial Lawyers Association
Member

Admissions

District of Columbia

Florida

Maryland

A former federal prosecutor and White House attorney, Mr. Firestone represents whistleblowers. He has particular expertise and experience representing whistleblowers in the cryptocurrency and digital assets industry. Mr. Firestone is also a trial lawyer with a wide-ranging litigation practice that includes investigations, white-collar defense, civil litigation, personal injury, and medical malpractice.

Representative matters include the following:

  • Representing several of the most important crypto whistleblowers to date, including filing a claim with a federal agency for a whistleblower reward (outcome pending) on one of the largest crypto enforcement matters ever and protecting the client’s interests during cooperation with criminal prosecutors.
  • Leading (with his partners) a team of attorneys, investigators and academics in a current investigation into the role of the French government in connection with the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that took place in Rwanda.
  • Representing (with his partners) Paula Broadwell, a biographer of General David Petraeus and a war correspondent, in a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation that resulted in no charges against her.
  • Conducting (with his partners) an investigation into one of the largest doping scandals ever to hit baseball on behalf of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
  • Negotiating successful settlements in several medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases, resulting in millions of dollars in recoveries for his clients.
  • Convincing the Department of Justice to decline criminal tax charges against a target who, years earlier, had pled guilty and served time for tax evasion.
  • Helping whistleblowers in two separate pro bono cases bring information to government attorneys who used the information to bring successful civil and criminal fraud cases. Mr. Firestone kept the identities of the whistleblowers confidential (in one case, even the government never learned the identity of the whistleblower).

In and out of the courtroom, Mr. Firestone draws on his experience as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice Tax Division. During that time, he led scores of white collar criminal tax prosecutions and investigations involving healthcare fraud, government procurement fraud, bankruptcy, and identity theft. He handled criminal cases involving off-shore accounts, tax shelters, Medicare coding, employment taxes, corporate and partnership taxes, and fraudulent tax preparation.

At the request of the White House, the Department of Justice detailed Mr. Firestone to the White House Office of Presidential Personnel for six months in 2010 and then to the White House Office of Management and Budget for six months in 2012. During his first detail to the White House, Mr. Firestone served as Deputy Associate Counsel and vetted potential presidential nominees and appointees to key positions in the Obama Administration, including agency directors, ambassadors, and members of high-profile boards and commissions. In his second detail to the White House, Mr. Firestone served as Counselor to The Working Group on Streamlining Paperwork for Executive Nominations. In that position, Mr. Firestone was part of a small team that conceived of and drafted the first report of its kind to the President and the Senate recommending reforms to rationalize the paperwork required of Presidential nominees. He also played a key role in negotiations with the White House and all 17 Senate Committees that confirm Presidential appointees on implementing the recommendations in the report.

Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Firestone served as a law clerk to the Honorable Peter J. Messitte, U.S. District Court Judge in the District of Maryland. He also graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from Northwestern Law School and magna cum laude from Harvard College.

Prior to law school, Mr. Firestone was an actor, appearing in Off-Broadway shows, national commercials, and the feature film “Scenes from a Mall,” in which he played Woody Allen and Bette Midler’s son.