Kyle M. DeYoung

Partner Litigation

kyle.deyoung@kirkland.com

Practices

Overview

Kyle DeYoung is a partner in Kirkland’s Government, Regulatory & Internal Investigations Practice Group and is resident in the Firm’s Washington, D.C., office. He has over 20 years of experience handling high-stakes regulatory and internal investigations both in private practice and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is also a skilled litigator who has tried cases in federal court and administrative proceedings.

Kyle represents public and private companies, private equity firms, asset managers, financial institutions and individuals in regulatory and internal investigations and provides clients with strategic counseling when facing complex regulatory issues or potential enforcement action. Since joining Kirkland, he has represented clients on a broad range of securities enforcement issues, including public company financial disclosures, accounting issues related to revenue recognition, investment adviser conflicts of interest, insider trading, the investment adviser marketing rule, tokenization and crypto-currency issues, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), disclosures of non-GAAP measures, SPACs, block trading, complex financial products and whistleblower issues. Kyle also regularly advises clients on issues related to the appropriate treatment of Material Non-Public Information (MNPI) and related trading questions.

Kyle previously spent seven years at the SEC where he served as Senior Counsel to the Director of Enforcement and Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Division of Enforcement’s Trial Unit. While at the SEC, Kyle helped lead some of the most significant enforcement investigations at the Commission and received the Director’s award for distinguished service three times. He also worked on a broad range of legislative and regulatory issues and provided subject matter insight to Congressional staff on a variety of issues including potential insider trading legislation, requirement for foreign companies listed on U.S. exchanges, market manipulation and the Electronic Communication Privacy Act. As Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel, he litigated cases on behalf of the SEC in federal court and administrative proceedings.

Kyle is regularly invited to speak on securities enforcement issues at industry events and is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the annual Cambridge Forum on SEC Enforcement.

Experience

Kyle’s recent experience includes representation of:

A public company in an expansive SEC investigation involving accounting and financial disclosure issues
An investment adviser in parallel SEC and foreign regulator investigations related to trading in complex financial instruments
A high-profile fund manager in an SEC investigation involving conflicts of interest and the SEC marketing rule
A multinational public company in an SEC investigation related to revenue recognition issues resulting in no enforcement action
A large public company in an internal investigation related to revenue recognition issues and disclosure of non-GAAP measures
A foreign company listed in the United States in an SEC FCPA investigation resulting in no enforcement action
A well-known investment adviser in an SEC investigation related to potential conflict of interests resulting in no enforcement action
A major private equity firm in a parallel SEC and DOJ investigation related to block trading
A multinational pharmaceutical company in an SEC insider trading investigation resulting in no enforcement action
A major private equity firm and a portfolio company in an SEC investigation related to a potential SPAC transaction resulting in no enforcement action

While at the SEC, Kyle was responsible for the following selected matters:

Lead litigation counsel in enforcement action against affiliated broker-dealers for charging clients more than $80 million in undisclosed mark-ups, obtained more than $100 million in disgorgement and penalties and successfully defended motions to dismiss in civil litigation against former CEO
Lead trial counsel in insider trading trial against hedge fund and three individual defendants
Lead litigation counsel in multiple financial-crises related enforcement actions for misleading statements and fraudulent business practices concerning RMBS, worked with investigative staff to obtain more than $650 million in disgorgement and penalties
Lead litigation counsel in enforcement action against broker-dealer and individual defendants for market manipulation of a technology company stock, negotiated settlement the week before trial that included injunctive relief, full disgorgement and significant penalties

Senior Counsel to the Director of EnforcementUnited States Securities and Exchange Commission

Assistant Chief Litigation CounselUnited States Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement

Law ClerkHonorable Suzanne B. ConlonUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Partner, 2017–2021

WilmerHale, Counsel and Associate, 2000–2010

Thought Leadership

Publications

“An Analysis of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Liu v. SEC,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May, 2020

“The Tipping Point – Possible Shakeup to Insider Trading Rules,” Bloomberg Law Insight, October 2019

“INSIGHT: Five Things Every Company Should Know About SEC Whistleblowers,” Bloomberg Law, Insight, August 2019

“Yahoo Settlement Changes SEC Expectations on Cyber Disclosure,” Bloomberg Law Privacy and Security Law Report, June 2018

“Outside Counsel May Face Criminal Liability in Complex Business Cases,” New York Law Journal, White Collar Crime, January 2018

Press Mentions

“Madoff’s ‘Seismic Shift’ on SEC, Compliance Still Felt Today,” Law360, April 2021

“PRIMER: Regulation Best Interest,” International Finance Law Review, April, 2021

“No, Volkswagen Isn’t Rebranding Itself Voltswagen,” Wall Street Journal, March 2021

“SEC Eyes Securities Lending, Short Selling in Exam Priorities," International Finance Law Review, March 2021

“SEC Signals a More Aggressive Stance Toward Wall Street,” Wall Street Journal, February 2021

“Gensler Expected To Be An Aggressive Enforcer As SEC Chair,” Law360, January 2021

“SEC Cuts Accountant Slack For Self-Reporting Insider Trading,” Law360, June 2020

“Donald Trump Grants Clemency to Milken and Blagojevich,” Financial Times, February 2020

“Supreme Court Says SEC Judges Improperly Appointed,” Financial Times, June 2018

“CFTC Enforcement Head on Criticism of Self-Reporting Policy,” International Finance Law Review, December 2017

“Broken Windows, Admissions and Stale Conduct: The State of Enforcement at the SEC,” The Anti-Corruption Law Report, November 2017

Seminars

“Insider Trading 360° – Enforcement Trends and Key Cases, Prosecutions, and Legislation,” Securities Enforcement Forum 2021, November 2021

“Lessons from Recent Compliance Failures,” Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, January 2020

“SEC’s Whistleblower Bounty Program: Best Practices for Compliance Investigation and Responding to Whistleblowers” Lorman Educational Services, March 2019

Speaking Engagements

Co-Chair, Cambridge Forum on SEC Enforcement, October 2021, May 2021, and December 2020

Recognition

Selected to Securities Docket’s “Enforcement Elite,” 2024

Recognized in Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, The Legal 500 U.S., 2022–2023

Memberships & Affiliations

District of Columbia Bar Association

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Member of Adjudication Advisory Group

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

District of Columbia
Illinois (inactive)

Courts

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Maryland

Education

University of Michigan Law SchoolJ.D.cum laude1999
University of MichiganB.A.1995