Benjamin D. Cooper is a recent addition to Moore & Associates.  He serves as Of Counsel and a senior litigator.  He has significant experience in financial services litigation and regulation which he gained through different perspectives – as outside counsel for D&O liability insurance carriers, as a Registered Investment Adviser, as outside counsel for Merrill Lynch and other Wall Street banks, as in-house counsel, and principal/associated person for several large broker-dealer/RIA networks and as an industry regulator. 

Benjamin believes these diverse experiences within the financial services industry enable him to empathetically analyze complex and/or novel issues from multiple perspectives and identify optimum solutions. 

As an associate with Peterson & Ross, Benjamin was part of team that successfully defended directors and officers in some of the largest bank failures in history. He also has substantial business experience having founded a Registered Investment Adviser and several real estate investment firms. Benjamin combined his business and legal experience to become an integral part of Sutherland’s Broker-Dealer Litigation group which successfully defended hundreds of claims arising from the collapse of the dotcom bubble and where he received the firm’s prestigious Pro Bono Award. Subsequently, Benjamin held the position of Associate General Counsel for AIG’s broker-dealer division where he was responsible for nationwide litigation during and after the Great Financial Crisis. He also held the position of Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Compliance Officer at Securian Financial’s broker-dealer subsidiary until the sale of the firm to private equity. Benjamin also held a position as an integral member of FINRA’s Enforcement Department where he investigated potential violations of securities laws including fraud, sales practice, insider trading, AML, Reg ATS, Reg NMS, order routing/best execution, 529 Plans, variable annuity exchanges, Rule 5122 Member Private Offerings (lead investigator) and Rule 4530 customer complaint filings.

Benjamin holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor Degree from Northwestern University School of Law. Benjamin is licensed to practice law in Georgia and Illinois.