Theodora D. Vasilatos, Of Counsel

Attorney Theodora D. Vasilatos

Theodora is a member of the firm’s Government Investigations, White Collar Defense and Anti-Money Laundering Group. Her practice includes the representation of financial institutions in complex litigation, regulatory and compliance matters, with a focus on Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) issues. Theodora assists in responding to grand jury, regulatory, and legislative investigations, particularly in the AML/BSA space and counsel financial institutions in responding to investigations conducted by the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senate Committee on Banking and House Financial Services Committee.

Notable investigation/compliance matters include representation of:

  • A major financial institution in a worldwide sports corruption investigation conducted by the DOJ and various federal law enforcement agencies.
  • A senior executive of a global financial institution in connection with a United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (“PSI”) investigation regarding certain high frequency trading activity.
  • A major financial institution in a pharmaceutical company’s deceptive marketing/sales practices investigation conducted by the DOJ.
  • A large financial institution in an investigation into financial industry compliance with banking laws, including BSA compliance, correspondent banking, KYC/AML policies and practices, proper safeguards, and prevention of loan fraud by the House Financial Services Committee.
  • A financial institution in a narcotics trafficking investigation by the DOJ and other federal law enforcement agencies.
  • Financial institutions in financial crimes investigations by various federal and state regulators and prosecutors.

Theodora is also an experienced litigator and has represented domestic and foreign financial institutions in complex disputes. Notable litigation matters and accomplishments include:

  • Obtaining dismissal of various cases involving RICO, FCRA, FDCPA, fraud and unjust enrichment claims, including a case seeking $400,000,000 in compensatory damages for alleged breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation.
  • Prevailing at a damages inquest hearing in federal court after first obtaining vacatur of a client’s default even after the court denied predecessor counsel’s vacatur motion.
  • Convincing the court to deny a petition for a New York judicial subpoena for discovery in aid of a pending FINRA arbitration.
  • Prevailing both at the trial court and on appeal and preserving a client’s mortgage lien, even after sale of the mortgaged premises at a condominium lien foreclosure sale.
  • Obtaining summary judgment against intervenor/junior mortgagee and preserving client’s first priority mortgage lien in a case where client’s mortgage was not paid off at a short sale due to junior mortgagee’s agent’s (abstract company) defalcation.

Prior to joining ZEK, Theodora worked on multifaceted real estate and financing transactions, including construction and business lending. Her experience runs the gamut of negotiating and drafting financing and security documents, to resolving title issues and providing counsel through all phases of real property financing, including due diligence, closing and post-closing matters.

Theodora represents clients in the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey.

*Not admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.