Todd Blanche

Todd Blanche is the founder of Blanche Law, a white collar defense and investigations firm. Blanche Law helps clients all over the world in criminal and regulatory investigations, internal investigations, and crisis management counseling.   Todd brings unique expertise to any government or internal investigative challenge, with over 20 years experience working as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney at two large law firms.  Blanche Law's team has represented corporations and individuals in criminal and regulatory matters involving all types of white collar investigations, prosecutions and enforcement actions.  After serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York for nine years, Todd's experience as a defense attorney includes getting the criminal indictment against Paul Manafort dismissed prior to trial and achieving an unexpectedly positive result in the politically charged prosecution by the SDNY against Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Guliani.  In addition to these representations, Todd is counsel of record for the defendant in the New York County District Attorney's historic criminal prosecution against President Donald J. Trump.  Beyond these high-profile representations, Todd has successfully represented both companies and individuals facing grand jury subpoenas, criminal charges, regulatory inquiries and actions, and investigating and responding to internal investigations.  Many of Todd's most successful representations remain confidential because the government or regulator declined to prosecute or otherwise proceed against the individual or company.

 Todd served for nine years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Including as a supervisor for almost four years.  As co-chief of the Violent Crimes Unit and later of the White Plains Division, he supervised investigations and prosecutions involving public corruption, securities fraud, bank and wire frauds, Medicare and federal program frauds, RICO violations, violent crimes, and other criminal violations.  Todd has extensive trial experience, serving as counsel in 15 federal jury trials. Todd was a recipient of the Director’s Award from the U.S. Department of Justice for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. 

 Todd received a B.A. in Political Science and Interdisciplinary Studies from American University, and a J.D., cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, where he was an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review.  Todd worked full-time while supporting his family and attending law school at night.  He held clerkships with the Honorable Joseph F. Bianco of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the Honorable Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (both Judges now of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit).  Prior to founding Blanche Law he was a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP, and Todd was a counsel at WilmerHale LLP.  Early in his career Todd was an associate in the Litigation Department in the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

 Emil Bove is a partner at Blanche Law with extensive trial and appellate experience.  A former federal prosecutor, Emil represents clients in white-collar criminal and regulatory defense matters, internal investigations, and complex commercial disputes involving civil litigation and arbitration. Emil also counsels companies and individuals on sanctions compliance issues under federal and state laws, and he represents whistleblowers before the SEC and CFTC.    

 Emil served for over nine years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. As an AUSA, Emil tried 13 federal cases and briefed and/or argued 18 appeals. He handled some of the country’s most significant national security matters during his tenure, and he was Co-Chief of the Office’s national security unit during his last two years as a prosecutor. Emil’s investigations involved economic sanctions, export controls, money laundering, foreign corruption and bribery, cybersecurity and data intrusions, espionage, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act and 18 U.S.C. § 951.   

 Emil earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal’s Annual Review of Criminal Procedure. He earned his B.A., in Public Policy & Economics, summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany. Emil also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard J. Sullivan in the Southern District of New York, and the Honorable Richard C. Wesley in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to joining Blanche Law, Emil was a partner at Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC.    

 Stephen Weiss is Counsel at Blanche Law.  His practice concentrates on advising U.S. and international clients in connection with internal and government investigations and enforcement proceedings.  He has experience representing clients at the federal and state levels, as well as in complex cross-border matters. 

 Stephen has represented corporations, their boards of directors/senior management, and individuals in a variety of industries and business sectors, including financial and consulting services, gaming, sports and entertainment, health care, higher education, manufacturing and technology.  He advises clients in regulatory and internal investigations, including enforcement matters before the United States Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and state attorneys general offices, as well as foreign regulators, such as the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.  He has also assisted companies and corporate boards in conducting proactive internal investigations related to money laundering, accounting fraud, employment issues and other matters.  He also has successfully counseled company representatives and individual clients in various types of civil and criminal litigations in federal courts, including clients facing grand jury subpoenas and criminal charges. 

 A graduate of Dickinson College, Stephen received his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and served on The American University Business Law Review.  While in law school, Stephen worked full-time at a large Washington, DC-based law firm and later interned with the United States Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, where he worked closely with international regulatory and enforcement bodies to coordinate criminal investigations involving the U.S. and other countries. 

Stephen previously worked as an associate in Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP’s Global Litigation and White Collar Defense and Investigation groups.  He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

 Danny Sitko is a legal analyst at Blanche Law.  Danny provides a highly-skilled and versatile knowledgebase to every situation and has assisted in some of the nation’s most high-pressure and consequential cases and investigations.  Prior to joining Blanche Law, Danny served as a paralegal specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  As a paralegal in the National Security and International Narcotics Unit, he supported investigations that disrupted and deterred plots by international drug cartels, foreign agents, and foreign and domestic terrorists to endanger the nation’s safety.  Danny has extensive experience with cases involving sensitive information and has worked with various government agencies to ensure that proper compliance with legal obligations did not impact the security or integrity of the nation’s intelligence and defense capabilities.

 Danny has used his skills to aid in the preparation of dozens of charged cases for trial, involving a multitude of offenses, including material support of terrorist organizations, FARA violations, IEEPA violations, RICO charges, importation of controlled substances, importation of firearms, interstate threats, marriage fraud, visa fraud, gathering and disclosing national defense information, murder, possession and distribution of CSEM/CSAM, and murder of U.S. government officials, among others.  In his role assisting attorneys, Danny was responsible for trial support on three federal jury trials involving terrorism, one of which being a federal capital trial.

 Danny received a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish Cultural Studies from Tufts University in 2020, graduating summa cum laude.