Nicholas Folly is a litigation counsel based in the firm’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. A former federal prosecutor with extensive trial experience, he advises clients on complex matters concerning white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, internal investigations, and civil litigation.
Prior to rejoining Debevoise, Mr. Folly served for eight and a half years in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), where he prosecuted and supervised some of the DOJ’s largest and most complex white collar cases. Most recently, Mr. Folly served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, where he oversaw the work of dozens of prosecutors, spearheaded office-wide policy initiatives, and worked closely with senior officials at the DOJ, FBI, SEC, CFTC, and the IRS–Criminal Investigation. Prior to his supervisory role, Mr. Folly served as a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. He tried ten jury trials to verdict, including seven white collar trials, and briefed or argued more than a dozen appeals.
During his tenure, Mr. Folly handled cases involving securities and commodities fraud, tech startups, payment processing, investment adviser fraud, insider trading, tax fraud, artificial intelligence, national security, cyber attacks, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses, COVID-19 relief fraud, money laundering and forfeiture, bribery and healthcare fraud.
Mr. Folly also oversaw significant corporate prosecutions and resolutions, including the conviction of a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest insurance companies for a complex $8 billion securities fraud. Mr. Folly also received the 2022 Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for securing a corporate resolution with Switzerland’s largest insurance company for concealing more than $1.4 billion in offshore policies from the IRS, which the AAG deemed “the most significant prosecution to date involving insurance wrappers.”
Mr. Folly was previously a Debevoise litigation associate. He clerked for the Hon. Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2014-2015), and the Hon. George B. Daniels on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (2013-2014).
Mr. Folly received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 2011, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University in 2008.