Moira Penza Goes for the Big Money and Leaves the EDNY

It didn’t take long for Moira Kim Penza to capitalize on her high profile Nxivm trial victory in the Eastern District of New York this spring.

She has left the DOJ – where she was an assistant US attorney since 2015 – and has now re-entered private practice.

Penza joined the trial “boutique” law firm of Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz.

Penza left the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office Tuesday and with the laurels green – after leading the high-profile investigation and prosecution of Keith Alan Raniere and his Nxivm co-defendants – Allison Mack, Nancy and Lauren Salzman, Kathy Russell and Clare Webb Bronfman.

{Her daring indictment and conviction of the wealthy Clare Bronfman are historic – it is rare for a wealthy heiress to ever be prosecuted for financial crimes. It took guts to go after a big fish like that – even if Bronfman got off with a fairly light sentence.]

Penza joined the law firm as a full partner in its New York office. In joining Wilkinson Walsh, founded in 2016, she is reuniting with colleagues she previously worked with at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

Penza was a federal prosecutor for four and a half years, in the organized crime and gangs unit.  She has been licensed since 2009.

In leaving the DOJ and government service, Penza will [I estimate] make a likely jump in salary from about $175,000 at the DOJ to – as a partner in Wilkinson Wash – an estimated base salary of around $500,000 – plus partnership distributions at the end of the year.  Our guess is Penza will likely earn about $1 million next year with her new law partnership role.

Formerly obscure, she gained great fame for leading the highly publicized investigation and trial of Keith Alan Raniere and the Nxivm criminal enterprise.

The trial she led was one of the prettiest and neatest little put-aways anybody ever saw.  Limiting her witnesses to about a half dozen female slaves of Raniere – [she had more than 100 on the potential witness list] who she kept on the stand for days each – and a couple of expert witnesses – she buried Raniere so badly that it took the jury less than four hours to convict him on all counts – after a six week trial.

Raniere was convicted on June 19th of racketeering, sex trafficking, identity theft, forced labor conspiracy, and other crimes.

Penza served as the first chair for the government and made the closing argument.

Before joining the US. Attorney’s Office in March 2015, Penza worked for over six years as an associate at Paul Weiss, where she handled products liability, mass tort, securities and other civil and corporate litigation matters, according to Law.com, which broke the story of Penza’s leaving the DOJ.

According to Law.com, “While at Paul Weiss, she worked on high-profile litigation cases with Beth Wilkinson and Alexandra Walsh, who ultimately left the New York firm to help form the boutique.

“In an interview, Penza said that after finishing the Raniere trial this year, she felt she had accomplished a meaningful case for the [EDNY] office and ‘it just felt like the right time for me’ to explore career options. I kind of grew up with Beth and Alex and learned to try cases in that environment,’ she said. ‘To have an opportunity to come in as a partner [at Wilkinson Walsh], there is nothing better that I could imagine.’

“Penza said she was also attracted to the boutique ‘having seen firsthand [the founders’] commitment to advancing women,’ and she added that Wilkinson Walsh offered an environment ‘where you can lawyer at the highest levels and be committed to your family.’”

Wilkinson Walsh has about 40 lawyers, including a dozen partners.  According to Law.com, “The boutique has had 15 trials in the past three and a half years, Wilkinson said. ‘We have more work than we can handle,’ she said.”

So farewell, Moira, you did your service to America and to the victims of Nxivm – in handling the Raniere case so adroitly and expertly.

New legal precedent was set in federal sex trafficking and racketeering in the case [for good or ill – we will have to see how it is used or abused in the future]. And certainly, no one can begrudge you a large upward move toward a larger payday.

Best wishes.

Frank Parlato