Brian K Kidd

Practice Areas

Brian K. Kidd is former Chief of the Market Integrity and Major Frauds (MIMF) Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Investigations + White Collar Defense Practice Group.

At DOJ, Brian supervised a team of roughly 40 federal prosecutors and oversaw virtually all major fraud cases, with a special focus on investigating and prosecuting complex securities, commodities, and other major corporate fraud cases. Brian oversaw cross-border and corporate prosecutions involving market manipulation, spoofing, insider trading, money laundering, bribery, cryptocurrency, accounting, and procurement fraud.

During his tenure as Chief, Brian oversaw a number of significant corporate resolutions, including against some of the country’s largest financial institutions, healthcare companies, government contractors, and automotive companies. Brian also served as Chair of DOJ’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group, where he worked closely with senior leaders at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Reserve.

Prior to his role as chief of the MIMF Unit, Brian served as an Assistant Chief of the MIMF Unit from January 2017 to May 2018 and as a Trial Attorney from October 2015 to January 2017. Prior to joining the Fraud Section, Brian was a trial attorney in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico.

Brian is a regular speaker on DOJ, SEC, and CFTC enforcement trends, cross-border investigations, cryptocurrency fraud, COVID-19 relief fraud, and compliance guidelines issued by U.S. regulators and law enforcement agencies, among other topics. He has appeared as a guest speaker on Yahoo Financial Live, has been quoted in ABC News, CNN, USA Today, and Law360, among other publications, and has served as a presenter for leading industry groups including the Futures Industry Association, Ethisphere, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and Global Investigations Review: Live on these issues.

Brian earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Brian is also a three-time recipient of the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award. Brian has been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center since May 2019 and previously was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. He is admitted to the New York State Bar.