Claudius Modesti counsels and defends accounting firms, regulated entities, corporations and individuals in regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings involving the PCAOB and the SEC, in addition to advising on other federal or state criminal investigations.
Mr. Modesti was the PCAOB’s first enforcement director, leading the team that built the enforcement group from its inception. He oversaw the development of the PCAOB’s policies and procedures for identifying matters for investigation, and he led investigations of U.S.- and foreign-based accounting firms, with many of them also requiring coordinating parallel investigations with the SEC. His role also included overseeing the PCAOB’s litigation process. He also played a key role in the PCAOB’s collaboration with its foreign audit regulator counterparts.
Prior to a 14-year tenure at the PCAOB, Mr. Modesti served with the Fraud Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division as a trial attorney, the SEC as an enforcement attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) as a federal prosecutor in the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit.