New York prosecutors are looking into possible financial mismanagement at Dewey & LeBoeuf after lawyers at the law firm requested an investigation, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
Dewey & LeBoeuf, a major US law firm, has lost some 70 of its 300 partners since the beginning of the year. The defections, coupled with debt, have left the firm struggling to stay afloat.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating whether Dewey leadership made misleading statements about payments due to partners, according to one person who did not want to be identified because the probe is not public.
Another person, who also did not want to be identified, said lawyers from the firm had asked Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to examine “financial irregularities” at the firm.
Both sources said the investigation is in preliminary stages.
Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for Vance, declined comment.
Martin Bienenstock, a member of the firm’s five-person executive committee, declined to comment. Representatives of Dewey did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The request for an investigation was first reported yesterday by Law360.
It comes just days before Dewey faces a deadline to renegotiate the terms of a $100 million line of credit. The deadline was revealed earlier this week by another source familiar with Dewey’s troubles.
The firm owes roughly $75 million to a bank group led by JPMorgan Chase that also includes Citi Private Bank, Bank of America Corp and HSBC Holdings PLC.
Dewey has retained a bankruptcy attorney to consider restructuring options. One possibility is a prepackaged bankruptcy that would involve merging with another firm. Greenberg Traurig LLP has said it had “preliminary discussions” related to Dewey.
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