Lee Vartan is widely recognized as one of New Jersey’s top criminal defense attorneys. He regularly represents individuals and companies in some of the highest-stakes investigations and prosecutions in New Jersey and New York.
He has deep connections in New Jersey, having previously served as a federal prosecutor in Newark, in the governor’s office as counsel to the governor, and, most recently, as the second highest-ranking official in the attorney general’s office, where he had oversight of the largest civil, criminal, and consumer-related investigations and prosecutions in the state. Lee is able to call upon his experience as a federal and state prosecutor, as well as his many relationships, to consistently achieve outstanding results for his clients. He is also a fierce and accomplished trial lawyer, having taken seven federal jury trials to successful verdict in New Jersey and New York.
Individuals and companies come to Lee with their biggest problems. He represents one of the individuals charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn in the FIFA prosecution—perhaps the Department of Justice’s largest and most-sweeping case; successfully navigated several witnesses through the “Bridgegate” prosecution spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey; successfully represented a multinational artificial turf company investigated by the Federal Trade Commission, several attorneys general, and the New Jersey Legislature; successfully steered one of the largest hotel chains in the United States through an investigation by 47 state attorneys general; recently won a complete victory in a manslaughter case for the son of a former high-ranking official in the New York City mayor’s office; and obtained a gubernatorial pardon for another client.
Lee has active matters with the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, attorneys general across the country, and various New Jersey county prosecutors. Boards of Directors also regularly call upon Lee to conduct sensitive, internal investigations.
Lee is a former adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School where he taught a course on federal criminal practice and cybercrimes. He is regularly quoted in Bloomberg, The Associated Press, The Star-Ledger, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications, on criminal prosecutions and criminal practice.
Education
- Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2003)
- Princeton University (B.A., cum laude, 2000)
Bar & Court Admissions
- New Jersey
- New York
