Ex-Latham Partner Gets Jail Time for Defrauding Clients and the Firm

Samuel Fishman, formerly a mergers & acquisitions partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins, was sentenced Friday to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The Southern District of New York judge also ordered Fishman to pay a $10,000 fine and $350,000 in restitution to Latham for defrauding both clients and the firm.

Fishman pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud in March 2008. He admitted that he had billed fraudulent expenses to clients by inflating some reimbursable expenses and mischaracterizing some nonreimbursable costs as reimbursable costs – labeling local meals and parking as photocopying and express mail expenses, for example. He also defrauded the firm by obtaining reimbursement for personal expenses by claiming they were business expenses.

When the judge sentenced Fishman, who faced up to 20 years in prison for his offenses, he said that Fishman was “not just an ordinary citizen or offender, but an officer of the court” who “betrayed” the oath he took “by extensive criminal conduct.” Fishman resigned from the firm when his wrongdoing was discovered; he also faces disbarment. Latham reimbursed clients for the improper expenses.