He is best known for representing Bernard Madoff, the American businessman who pleaded guilty to perpetrating the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.
In 1995 and 1996, he also served as the Chief Legal Officer of Nomura Securities, a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange.
These days, if you're prosecutor for five years, you might get to try five cases.One of his first private clients was Rupert Murdoch in the law firm of Howard Squadron, Theodore Ellenoff and Stanley Plesent.
[1] On November 8, 2010, Mr. Sorkin left Dickstein Shapiro along with four other lawyers to join New Jersey–based law firm Lowenstein Sandler as a partner.
Among many clients in his career, Sorkin represented Stratton Oakmont and Jordan Belfort ("Wolf of Wall Street").
Between 1991 and 1996, Sorkin defended Monzer al-Kassar, a Syrian convicted in November 2008 of supplying arms to undercover agents posing as anti-American terrorists.
Howard Squadron and several other partners invested with Bernard Madoff, and the firm's pension account, including about $19,000 belonging to Sorkin.
Sorkin was the lead defense attorney on the Madoff fraud case, assisted by associates Daniel J. Horwitz, Nicole P. De Bello and Mauro M. Wolfe, who had changed firms along with him when he joined Dickstein Shapiro.
[1] On March 20, 2009, an appellate court denied his request to release Madoff from incarceration, to "penthouse arrest" pending his June 2009 scheduled sentencing date.
[5][6] Avellino & Bienes were accused of selling unregistered securities, and in its report, the SEC mentioned the fund's "curiously steady" yearly returns to investors of 13.5% to 20%.
[4][5] Through Sorkin, who once oversaw the SEC's New York office, Avellino & Bienes agreed to return the money to investors, shut down their firm, undergo an audit, and pay a fine of $350,000.
Madoff said that he did not realize the feeder fund was operating illegally, and that his own investment returns tracked the previous 10 years of the S&P 500.
[5] The SEC investigation came right in the middle of Madoff's three terms as the powerful chairman of the NASDAQ stock market board.
[6] Sorkin also represented accountants, Steven Mendelow of New York City and Edward Glantz of Lake Worth, Fla., who in 1989 began their own pool, Telfran Ltd., investing in Avellino & Bienes, and sold $89.6 million in unregistered notes.