Akin Adds Senior SEC Counsel Jasper to White Collar Group in LA

Lance Jasper, senior counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is joining Akin in Los Angeles as the firm builds out its white collar defense and government investigations practice.

Jasper, who led the SEC investigation into the $650 million Ponzi scheme by Hollywood actor Zachary Horwitz, is joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a partner.

“Akin is a top firm with a stellar white collar practice so when the opportunity came to join the firm I was excited to take it,” Jasper said in an interview.

Lance Jasper

Jasper joined the SEC in 2013 from Munger Tolles & Olson. As a senior counsel in the SEC’s division of enforcement, he conducted a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation into Brazilian state-owned energy company Petróleo Brasileiro SA. The investigation resulted in $1.8 billion in SEC settlement—one of the largest ever achieved by the agency.

His investigation into Horwitz, also known as Zach Avery, led to a 20-year prison sentence in 2022 after Horwitz admitted that he faked film deals with HBO and Netflix to trick investors into giving him and his production company, 1inMM Capital, at least $650 million. The case was one of Hollywood’s largest Ponzi schemes.

“We are fortunate to have a true tier one white collar practice at one of the most active periods of government regulation and enforcement,” said Akin chair Kim Koopersmith in an email. “Building on our strength with a lawyer of Lance’s caliber from the SEC is a perfect example of our strategy in action.”

Akin earlier this week added Sidley Austin partner James Munsell to its investment management practice in New York.