Katherine M. Jaskot

Attorney Katherine M. Jaskot is an experienced litigator at the law firm Ford O’Brien Landy LLP. Assisting the residents of New York, New York State, with their civil litigation and criminal defense cases for more than two decades, she primarily handles cases involving these practice areas: 

• White collar crimes 
• Health care
• Insurance coverage 
• Securities litigation 

A Bachelor of Arts with honors graduate from the Western University in Ontario, Canada, Ms. Jaskot completed her legal studies at the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law, graduating with a Juris Doctor degree in 2000. After law school, she performed a stint as a law clerk for the Honorable Sondra M. Miller, Second Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. 

Ms. Jaskot is licensed to practice law in the state of New York since 2001, and appears before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. One of her most notable white collar victories is from 2019, where she was a part of the trial team that secured a full acquittal for a former CFO accused of securities fraud. Currently, she is affiliated with the New York State Bar Association and the Association of Arbitrators. Born and brought up in Toronto, Canada, she now lives in New York City, New York. She is fluent in Polish and English, and has a working knowledge of French. 

Before joining Ford O’Brien Landy LLP, Ms. Jaskot was the managing attorney and lead litigator of a prominent insurance defense and general litigation law firm. With experience in performing appellate work, arbitration matters, bench trials and jury trials, she was an integral part responsible for the development and execution of the firm’s best trial strategy and tactics, practices, and litigation. In her current role, she guides Ford O’Brien Landy LLP’s litigators on civil and criminal protocols on the state and federal levels, offers extensive advice to attorneys and serves as an in-house general counsel for high-profile clients.

In July 2019, Katherine worked with the trial team that secured a full acquittal for its client Joseph SanFilippo, the former CFO of Platinum Partners in a federal criminal jury trial in which Mr. SanFilippo was accused of securities fraud. The charges brought against Mr. SanFilippo concerned an alleged scheme to deceive investors in Platinum's flagship fund.

Following a nine-week trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the jury acquitted Mr. SanFilippo on all counts. The case has been cited in legal publications as one of the year's most notable white collar victories.

This past year, Katherine has worked with the legal team on 2 high profile trials. 

In, U.S. v. Boustani et al., the team worked hard to successfully extradited Manuel Chang, Mozambique's former Minister of Economy and Finance, to the United States to dismiss a U.S. indictment against him. Chang was arrested in South Africa in December 2018, at the request of the U.S., over charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering with Jean Boustani, an executive with shipbuilder Privinvest Group, and others. In South Africa, Chang spent nearly five years in solitary confinement, without access to proper medical care. While it took less than a year from Boustani's arrest en route to the Dominican Republic to his 2019 acquittal at trial, Chang was jailed in South Africa for over 4.5 years until his long-delayed extradition to the United States in 2023. Trial was held in the Eastern District of New York in July/August 2024.

Another innovative matter is in the Southern Disctrict of New York. The case is involving a case where the Firm is representing our client who owns the superyacht Amadea. The Government has seized our client’s superyacht in Fiji alleging that the yacht does not belong to our client, but instead belongs to an oligarch listed under the Russia/Crimea sanctions list. After the seizure, the yacht was moved to San Diego and remains in the custody of the Justice Department today. We were asked by Millemarin Investment Ltd., and the client to represent them. Our goal is to vacate the seizure warrant and return the Amadea to its rightful owner. Recently, the Firm was successful in a ruling against the DOJ in the Southern District of New York. Judge Ho turned down the DOJ’s motion to sell the Amadea. The case is getting a lot of international press due to the fight over international sanctions and their legal application. A hearing was held in January 2025 and closing arguments are scheduled for February 7, 2025.