Poonam Kumar is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of its White Collar Defense & Investigations, Litigation, and Trial practice groups. She is a former federal prosecutor with significant trial experience and an extensive background in handling high-stakes criminal and civil matters across a broad range of practice areas.
Poonam’s practice focuses on internal investigations, regulatory and criminal investigations, complex commercial litigation, and trials across a range of industries, including financial services, technology, media and entertainment, sports, telecommunications, energy, automotive, and healthcare. Recently, Poonam was named by AmLaw Litigation Daily as one of their “Litigators of the Week” in a jury verdict win for Nike in its endorsement contract dispute with NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. She has also been recognized by The Daily Journal in its annual feature for “Top Verdicts in California” for 2023, with the publication naming Stitch Editing Ltd. v. TikTok Inc. et al. among its Top Defense Results.
Representative Matters Include:
- Representing Binance in U.S. agency matters, including investigations by and resolutions with DOJ, the CFTC, FinCEN, and OFAC.
- Representing a global telecommunications company in connection with FCPA investigation conducted by DOJ.
- Securing an across-the-board defense verdict for TikTok in $350 million trademark infringement trial.
- Securing an across-the-board defense verdict at trial for Nike in sponsorship dispute.
- Representing a healthcare company in civil litigation and arbitration proceedings involving breach of contract and fraud claims.
- Representing a biopharmaceutical company in DOJ investigation under the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act regarding speaker programs conducted nationwide.
- Representing Western Digital in cross-border transfer pricing matter brought by the IRS.
From 2014 to 2022, Poonam served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California where she investigated and prosecuted complex financial crimes, including corporate and securities fraud, embezzlement, healthcare fraud, bank fraud, import/export crimes, tax crimes, and money laundering. Poonam was a Deputy Chief of the Major Frauds section where she supervised a large team of federal fraud prosecutors. Representative matters from her time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office include the investigation and prosecution of a multinational scheme to inflate revenue of a company publicly traded on a foreign exchange and to evade nearly $2 billion in import duties as well as the conviction at trial of a South Korean official for laundering bribes he received in connection with his government position. For her work with the Department of Justice, Poonam received the United States Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Homeland Security Investigations’ highest investigative award.
Prior to joining DOJ, Poonam practiced for six years at Gibson Dunn in Los Angeles and at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York and clerked for the Honorable John Gleeson, United States District Judge, Eastern District of New York.
Poonam is an active member of the legal community and committed to pro bono work. She serves on the Board of Governors of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and is Chairperson Emeritus of the ABA White Collar Crime Committee for Southern California. She previously served as counsel to the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence that investigated the inappropriate use of force in Los Angeles County jails. Poonam received the ACLU Community Service Pro Bono Award for her work with the Commission.
Poonam received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and History from Brown University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where she graduated cum laude and where she served as a member of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform.
Capabilities
- White Collar Defense and Investigations
- Accounting Firm Advisory and Defense
- Anti-Corruption & FCPA
- Crisis Management
- Fintech and Digital Assets
- Law Firm Defense
- Litigation
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
- Securities Enforcement
- Securities Litigation
- Tax Controversy and Litigation
- Trials
Credentials
Education:
- University of Michigan - 2007 Juris Doctor
- Brown University - 2003 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- California Bar
- New York Bar
Clerkships:
- USDC, Eastern District of New York, Hon. John Gleeson, 2009 - 2010