Elena Fast

Elena Fast is a managing attorney who leads The Fast Law Firm, located in New York City, New York, catering to clients in nearby regions. She represents individuals and corporations accused of serious federal crimes; the cases she handles include:

• Securities and bank fraud
• Wire and mail fraud
• Money laundering
• Federal tax offenses
• Insurance fraud
• Cybercrimes
• Financial crimes
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
• Narcotics and weapons trafficking
• Murder and violent assaults

Ms. Fast pursued her legal education at the night division of New York Law School and actively participated in moot court. Prior to law school, she worked in financial roles at State Street Global Advisors and Vicis Capital UK. She graduated first in her class from the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston and also completed some of her undergraduate coursework at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. She is fluent in Russian.

Throughout her career, Ms. Fast has served as lead counsel in over 25 trials, both in federal and state courts. Before establishing her own firm, she was the managing partner at a boutique white collar law firm on Madison Avenue. Prior to private practice, she gained valuable experience as a felony assistant district attorney at the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York, where she handled a vast number of cases.

During her tenure at the district attorney's office, Ms. Fast worked on diverse criminal cases and presented over 200 matters to the grand jury, dealing with offenses like murder, home invasion, kidnapping, grand larceny, robberies, and narcotics and firearm possession. She also collaborated with the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on extensive investigations related to identity theft, insurance fraud, bank fraud and possession of forgery devices.

One of Ms. Fast's notable cases involved the prosecution of Nikolai Rakossi, known as the "Russian Rambo," for a double homicide. This unique case became the first in New York history to proceed to trial in the Russian Federation due to extradition challenges. Ms. Fast worked alongside the Department of Justice and the Russian authorities, and eventually, Rakossi was found guilty and sentenced to a Russian prison camp for 19 years.

Ms. Fast is highly regarded in her field, as evidenced by her "Superb" rating on Avvo and an overall peer-review rating of 4.4/5 through Martindale-Hubbell. Moreover, she holds memberships in prestigious associations, including the First Decade Committee of the Federal Bar Council and the New York Criminal Bar Association.