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Michael C. Farkas is a former Wall Street in-house litigator and New York City homicide prosecutor whose practice concentrates in the areas of retail and employment-related securities arbitration, regulatory enforcement investigations, and complex State and Federal criminal matters. As a U.S. Army Reserve JAG officer, Mr. Farkas also has significant military law and operational experience both at home and overseas. He is a certified FINRA Arbitrator, a Vice President of the Kings Country Criminal Bar Association, and an active member of various other civilian and military organizations. Mr. Farkas is in partnership with Silverman Sclar Shin & Byrne PLLC, where he augments that firm's corporate securities practice with his extensive litigation background. Before engaging in private practice Mr. Farkas served as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel with Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company. Mr. Farkas represented Smith Barney, Citigroup's retail brokerage unit, in hundreds of arbitration claims filed by the firm's public customers across the country. These cases involved a wide variety of allegations including securities fraud, unsuitability, unauthorized trading, churning, failure to supervise and breach of fiduciary duty. Mr. Farkas regularly took these cases to trial, where he enjoyed an overwhelming success rate. He also successfully represented dozens of the firm's employees facing regulatory investigations. Mr. Farkas previously served over eight years as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, one of the largest prosecutors' offices in the country. Mr. Farkas, who handled criminal matters at all stages from arrest through trial, was promoted to the position of Senior ADA and later assigned to the prestigious Homicide Bureau. In that role, his efforts focused exclusively on the successful prosecution of some of the most violent and high-profile murder cases in New York City. A Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Mr. Farkas has served various active duty tours in a long military career. In 1996 Mr. Farkas was activated to serve in Europe in support of America's peacekeeping mission in the Balkans, where he prosecuted courts-martial and advised combat commanders and scores of individual soldiers and their family members. In early 2002 Mr. Farkas was deployed in the Army's first wave sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he served with distinction as one of the command group's principal advisors on international law. Back home, Mr. Farkas performs a variety of important legal functions in support of the continuing war effort, including rendering assistance to soldiers and their families who are readying for deployment and serving as one of his command's senior military justice and international law officers. Mr. Farkas frequently appears on Court TV, CNN, the Fox News Channel and other programs, and has published articles on the humanitarian detention and prosecution of terrorist combatants since 9/11. A graduate of Albany State University and Brooklyn Law School, Mr. Farkas is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn.
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