Jarrod L. Schaeffer

256 5th Ave
5th Floor
New York, NY 10001

Jarrod is an experienced trial and appellate advocate, a tenacious litigator, and a pragmatic advisor to institutions and individuals. His practice includes white collar criminal defense, government investigations and enforcement matters, internal investigations, and complex commercial litigation, with a particular focus on matters involving allegations of bribery and corruption, complex fraud, violations of the False Claims Act, money laundering, and emergent issues including artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.

Prior to joining the firm, Jarrod served for more than five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) where he investigated and prosecuted numerous cases involving a wide array of federal crimes, from corruption and fraud to money laundering and international wildlife trafficking. As a senior member of the Public Corruption Unit, Jarrod handled some of the SDNY’s most sophisticated and sensitive matters, including high-profile investigations and prosecutions of politicians, law enforcement officers, and attorneys. Deeply familiar with how cases are built, litigated, and resolved, Jarrod navigates his clients through high-stakes investigations and prosecutions with empathy, integrity, and forceful advocacy. He has handled a number of high-profile matters, including cases involving charged individuals, investigative targets and subjects, and subpoenaed persons and entities.

Before serving as federal prosecutor, Jarrod was an associate at a prestigious international law firm in New York City and Washington, D.C., where he worked on a range of commercial litigation and white collar matters. Jarrod clerked for the Honorable Barbara S. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Roslynn R. Mauskopf of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes filing briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with critically important criminal justice issues.

Lawdragon Honors

Honor	Year	Practice
The 2027 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America	2027	White Collar, Commercial Litigation
The 2025 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation	2025	Criminal Defense, Civil Litigation, esp. White Collar
The 2024 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation	2024	Criminal Defense, Civil Litigation, esp. White Collar

Recent matter/case highlights

Represented a former high-ranking official in New York State government who was charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, bribery, and honest services wire fraud, among other offenses, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Following a more than six-week trial and several days of jury deliberations, AEL obtained a mistrial on all counts alleged against the defendant after the jury could not reach a verdict—one of only a few FARA trials in recent history that did not result in a conviction.
Represented a large hospital network in New York City and its medical school in trade secret litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Court dismissed the action and dismissed with prejudice all federal and state trade secret misappropriation claims alleged against the hospital network and medical school.
Obtained a rare order quashing multiple subpoenas seeking financial records from banks in the SDNY in connection with multimillion-dollar litigation currently pending in federal court in another state.
Secured a probationary sentence for a company employee charged with nineteen counts of fraud in connection with a multi-year, multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
Secured the voluntary dismissal of all claims brought against multiple clients in a multimillion-dollar civil RICO action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.