Hilgers Graben has added Scott Mascianica, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission top enforcement lawyer, as a partner and head of the firm’s Government Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement group.
“Hilgers Graben’s elite talent and disruptive business model are an ideal combination for
any party subject to a government or regulatory inquiry or in need of outside counsel for
an internal investigation,” Mascianica said.
Mascianica joined Hilgers Graben from Holland & Knight, where he worked just over two years in the Dallas office and was a partner. There, he co-chaired the firm’s Securities Enforcement Defense Team.
In 2021, Mascianica left his position as assistant regional director for enforcement at the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office. During his 10 years with the federal agency, Mascianica handled or oversaw more than 100 investigations of people or businesses including Nikola Motor Corporation, Breitling Energy and Akazoo (a purported music streaming company).
Mascianica worked at Jones Day and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal handling investigations and white-collar criminal defense work before joining the SEC. He was previously a forensic accountant for a Big Four accounting firm before becoming a lawyer. He obtained his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
“Scott’s team-oriented mindset and expertise in terms of governmental inquiries,
consulting, and broader investigatory matters go hand in hand with our elite litigation
practice and our unprecedented eDiscovery/discovery counsel group,” name
partner Andrew Graben said. “We are eager to hit the ground running.”
Read The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Q&A with Mascianica below.
How did you decide Hilgers Graben was best for your practice at this time?
The opportunity to lead the Hilgers Graben’s government investigation and regulatory
enforcement practice was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Two items attracted me: the firm’s elite talent and disruptive business model. The firm’s roster is
chock full of exceptional talent that can rival any large firm in the country. We have a roster of
former federal prosecutors and SEC enforcement attorneys, attorneys from litigation powerhouses like Bartlit Beck and Boies Schiller, former partners from AmLaw50 firms like
Winston Strawn and Kirkland and Ellis, and 9 former federal circuit court clerks. And the firm’s
business model of low overhead and technological efficiency allows a greater percentage of
every dollar of legal fees to go further for clients. This has enabled the firm to provide elite legal
services at a rate significantly lower than big law competitors while maintaining excellent
profitability.
But it was the firm’s vision for growing the government investigation and regulatory enforcement
practice and the firm’s family-like culture that really sold me on the move. Heather Hilgers, Drew
Graben, and Grant Schmidt have a clear vision for how this team can not only serve our existing
roster of clients but also target prospective clients. There is so much potential to leverage the
excellent government investigations and regulatory experience already at the firm and the firm’s
first-rate e-discovery capabilities. As for the culture, I’ve known Drew for nearly a decade and
trust him implicitly. And after getting to know Heather, Grant and the rest of the team, it’s clear
that there’s something different about HG’s approach to its clients and people. The Firm’s
values built around a culture of gratitude and dedication to service fully align with my worldview.
We like to ask about trends, so what trends in enforcement are you seeing out of the SEC
as it applies to your practice area?
Beyond the objective metrics evidencing more aggressive enforcement (see below), we are
seeing more novel and aggressive theories advanced by the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Whether it be “shadow trading” insider trading theories, more expansive positions on what is
considered an “exchange” in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space, or more fully
weaponized controls charges in areas like cybersecurity, the Division of Enforcement has
pushed enforcement boundaries. I don’t expect this trend to change any time soon under the
current regime.
It seemed like there was more of a focus on white-collar prosecutions under the NDTX
U.S. Attorney Erin Nelly Cox. Has that continued?
The Northern District continues to be extremely active in the health care fraud space. Over the
last two years, there have been several headline health care fraud and COVID-19 prosecutions
out of NDTX. On pure securities fraud prosecutions, historically, NDTX has been less active.
However, since 2022, they have indicted a few securities fraud matters and successfully
obtained a verdict in the high-profile UDF matter.
When we interviewed you in January 2022, you predicted the SEC would be more
“aggressive” under Chairman Gary Gensler. Do you think you were right? How would
you review the SEC’s work since then?
Absolutely. Although year-over-year trends should be viewed cautiously given the average life
cycle of investigations is multiple years, standalone enforcement actions were up 8% during FY
2023 and Enforcement had its two highest years of financial remedies in 2022 and 2023.
Additionally, we’ve witnessed an unprecedented collection of rule releases since the start of
Chair Gensler’s term. “Aggressive” remains the operative word to describe the agency since
2022.
What trends do you see at the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office?
FWRO remains one of the most active regional offices across the SEC’s Division of
Enforcement, processing more tips, complaints, and referrals than most of the other SEC
regional offices and it continues to file several headline grabbing cases. And even with some
key departures and turnover, the quality of the staff attorneys and supervisors remains high
across the board. Although the office remains aggressive in its enforcement approach, I
continue to find the staff fair and reasonable in my dealings with them.
Notably, the agency made excellent decisions with the promotions of Eric Werner to regional
director and David Fraser to associate director of enforcement to lead the office’s enforcement
efforts, continuing the trend of strong leadership within the office.
What am I not asking about your practice that I should be asking?
Most government investigation attorneys work at large firms. Why should companies
and individuals consider a smaller firm like Hilgers Graben for this type of work? Companies and individuals often end up in the position where they find themselves answering questions from the government or, in the case of entities, needing to conduct or participate in investigations to identify potential malfeasance or compliance issues. Unfortunately, even for seemingly simple tasks such as responding to subpoenas, this can be costly. HG is uniquely positioned to help companies and individuals navigate this type of work. We have the elite bench strength and e-discovery platform to handle matters large and small, and we are at a price point that will be more favorable than our competitors.
When we wrote about your move to Holland & Knight in January 2022, we noted that you
were involved in cases against Nikola Motor Corporation, Akazoo and Breitling Energy.
Since then, what other notable cases have you been involved in that we should add to
the list?
Generally speaking, SEC enforcement investigations remain non-public unless and until there is
an enforcement action filed. The three matters you mention were all matters I supervised while
at the SEC where the agency filed an enforcement action. Since returning to private practice,
I’ve worked on several significant SEC investigations and have been fortunate in many of those
instances to have helped my clients avoid any enforcement actions, meaning they remain non-
public and can’t be discussed publicly.