Mark Califano ’88 joined the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) investigation of the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food Program in 2004, after 12 years as a federal prosecutor in Connecticut. As the IIC’s chief legal counsel, he led investigative teams drawn from 24 countries, working out of offices in New York, Paris, and Baghdad, in the tracking of illegal kickbacks and manipulation of the program that involved more than 2,400 companies worldwide. In doing so, Califano drew upon his experience handling money-laundering, Internet, political corruption, and terrorism cases, many of which involved complex cross-border investigations. These taught him to appreciate the IIC’s unique ability to secure and collect evidence quickly.

“As a prosecutor, I had to make formal treaty requests to collect evidence overseas, a process that takes months, if not years. With the IIC, our diplomatic status, and the fact that we were not treaty-bound allowed us to travel anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice to collect evidence. It made us enormously effective.”

The fact that the investigative team had access to all of the U.N. records relating to the Oil-for-Food Program also facilitated the cooperation of foreign regulators, many of whom were simultaneously trying to unravel trails of criminal activity, he says. “We could put the U.N. records together in a way that would allow a [foreign] prosecutor or regulator to figure out a deal very quickly – which banks to go to and which principals to talk to. We offered that in exchange for getting their assistance in getting access to bank accounts and letters of credit,” says Califano.

Coordination, cooperation, and communication across jurisdictions was keyto the investigation’s success, he says. “You have to work with, as opposed to against, authorities and governments in other jurisdictions. It takes patience and a great deal of communication. I recognized, as we became more successful at it in the Oil-for-Food investigation, that as much experience and success I had as a prosecutor, it was nowhere near what could be done and what is possible.” (For more on the IIC investigation, see page 8.)

As a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, Califano indeed had considerable success. An early highlight was his lead role in investigating and securing convictions against members of an extended family for laundering money from a relative’s Florida narcotics operation, including money stolen from other Miami narcotics traffickers.

As senior computer crimes prosecutor for his district, Califano led the investigation and prosecution of Russian and Eastern European hackers who broke into scores of U.S. financial institutions, stealing confidential financial data and extorting the institutions, including Internet service providers. Unable to secure cooperation from the Russian government, Califano and his team received Department of Justice approval to set up an elaborate sting operation involving a fake Internet security company. “They said they were security experts, so we gave them systems to break into and tracked what they were doing, matching it to patterns of activity in the intrusions we were investigating around the country. It literally gave us a fingerprint of what they were doing,” Califano explains. Califano also supervised one of the few cross-border searches ever to withstand legal challenges, which led to the convictions of two of the ringleaders of the hacking and extortion group.

Other highlights of his career as a prosecutor include the dismantling of the Fairlight warez group, the second-largest software piracy organization in the world; successfully challenging the attorney-client privilege of the investment firm that had conspired to bribe the treasurer of the state of Connecticut; and investigating and prosecuting notorious hedge fund operator Martin Frankel and two dozen associates, whose embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars caused the failure of a number of insurance companies throughout the South.

“As an assistant United States attorney, I thought of myself a lot like an investigative journalist with a subpoena. When you look at things like that there is a world of possibilities,” says Califano. In fact, he came to law school with a view to becoming an investigative journalist, but changed his plans after “falling in love” with trial practice as a 2L and interning with Robert Bennett and Carl Rauh, former U.S. attorneys in criminal defense practice. At Bennett’s urging, Califano clerked, after graduating, with Judge Stanley Sporkin of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, a former head of the SEC Enforcement Division and CIA general counsel.

“[Sporkin] was a great believer in following your intellect and following where your nose guides you, and in the truth,” Califano recalls. “He started me on a career of taking you where your mind leads you.”

Califano returned as an associate to Bennett’s firm for more than two years while looking for a position as an assistant U.S. attorney, eventually taking the post in Connecticut, where his partners felt he would be exposed to the broadest range of cases. “It was all that and more,” he says.

Now head of litigation for GE Commercial Finance, where he oversees operations in 35 countries, Califano continues to be involved in complex international cases. He remains passionate about prosecutions and investigations, and encourages all lawyers to get involved in endeavors like the Oil-for-Food investigation and other areas of public service.

“Every lawyer who worked on that committee with us thought it was one of the seminal experiences of their careers. My message to young lawyers is to use the law like you would anything else. Don’t just limit yourself to a law firm, but open yourself up. Lawyers are nothing but social engineers. They can and should have a place in all parts of society.”