David Cohen

phone: 410-216-9331
email: dcohen@milberg.com
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David has been a Milberg investigator since September 2000. Prior to joining Milberg, David worked for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigating allegations of discrimination. David also worked as a welfare fraud investigator for the City of New York Human Resources Administration – Office of Revenue and Investigation, from June 1995 until April 1997.

As a welfare fraud investigator, David visited the homes of welfare recipients throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island for purposes of investigating fraudulent claims for welfare benefits. The job involved soup-to-nuts investigations: performing background checks, researching and analyzing financial records, interviewing welfare recipients, and identifying collateral information sources. The investigations also entailed verifying the receipt of child support.

In April 1997, David began working for OSHA, investigating allegations of job discrimination relating to workplace safety and health. He handled cases throughout New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. David controlled strategic development and execution of the investigative process with responsibility for conducting field investigations; compiling documented evidence; interviewing complainants; respondents, and witnesses; performing background checks, proposing and negotiating settlement agreements, researching and analyzing federal statutes, and developing cases for judicial disposition. Additionally, David performed supervisory duties involving the review of division-wide case files for accuracy, and the response to varied requests from clients, investigators and management. David also audited state discrimination programs, evaluating the effectiveness of policies and recommending modifications for improvement. David worked with a number of complex federal statutes, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act and Surface Transportation Assistance Act. He also conducted investigations regarding safety protocols at the Indian Point Power Plant in upstate New York, which involved Con Edison and New York Power Authority.

In September 2000, David joined Milberg as an investigator. In that capacity, he works to develop evidence in investor and consumer protection actions. His responsibilities include compiling documented evidence, performing company/defendant background checks, interviewing witnesses, and preparing internal memoranda. Most of the cases David investigates are financially complex and involve practices such as channel stuffing, document manipulation, accounting fraud, and various other shenanigans.

In 2001, David was investigating whether Lucent Technologies inflated inventory. One of the practices David uncovered was Lucent’s choking its parking lots with empty trailers to present the appearance of flourishing business. A witness told David that the warehouse parking lot was so full of trailers that the fire chief ordered Lucent to move them out because it created a fire code violation. In a consumer class action alleging that banks inapporpriately  reversed the order of customer debits from highest to lowest to maximize the number of overdrafts, a witness explained that a consulting firm devised the practice and took a cut of the fees. This type of evidence is critical to building cases to protect consumers from overreaching by financial institutions.

David has worked on many high-profile cases at Milberg. For example, in the early stages of the WorldCom accounting scandal, David discovered that WorldCom improperly held receivables on its books owed to it by bankrupt clients or clients disputing that theyowed WorldCom money. David also worked on the Martha Stuart insider selling case.  In addition, David has conducted investigations in major cases involving Vodafone, Chiron, CVS, and the mutual fund and subprime lending industries. He has also worked on a number of antitrust matters involving the food industry.

If you are a potential whistleblower or aggrieved consumer or investor, David would be happy to discuss your situation with you.

Investigations Worldwide

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