Antonia M.
Apps

Antonia Apps is a partner in Paul, Weiss’s Litigation Department. She is a former senior official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a former federal prosecutor, a prominent trial lawyer and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. In addition to her government roles, Antonia has 20 years of experience in private practice representing Fortune 500 companies, global financial institutions, asset managers and private equity firms in a broad range of civil, regulatory and criminal matters. She has tried 19 cases, argued numerous federal court appeals and federal and state court motions, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Experience

Antonia served in multiple senior roles at the SEC. From 2023 to 2025, she led the SEC’s New York office, the largest regional office with over 600 attorneys, accountants, investigators, securities compliance examiners and others. During her tenure as the office’s Regional Director, the New York office brought more standalone enforcement actions and completed more examinations than any other SEC office nationwide. In January 2025, Antonia was promoted to Acting Deputy Director of the Enforcement Division, where she helped oversee all of the SEC’s enforcement activities and manage a 1,300-person division handling the agency’s investigations and trials. In April 2025, Antonia was named Deputy Director of Enforcement overseeing the enforcement program in the New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia regional offices.

Before joining the SEC, Antonia was a litigation partner at another large law firm, representing public companies, financial institutions, investment banks, asset managers and private equity firms in white collar and internal investigations, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and high-stakes commercial litigation. Her private practice experience during that period included representing:

• A global asset manager in connection with antitrust and consumer protection investigations by multiple state attorneys general concerning ESG practices.
• BlackRock in SEC and DOJ investigations arising from investment of a BlackRock closed-end mutual fund of $75 million to finance a film distribution company.
• Infinity Q Capital Management in connection with investigations by the SEC and DOJ regarding valuation of complex securities, and in parallel civil litigation alleging violations of the federal securities laws.
• The audit committee of Ginkgo Bioworks in an internal investigation regarding accounting and other allegations contained in a short-seller report.
• American Realty Capital Properties (now known as VEREIT, Inc.), a publicly listed real estate investment trust, in investigations by the DOJ, SEC and Massachusetts Securities Division; in federal securities class actions; and in derivative actions in federal and state court arising from the company’s public disclosure of accounting irregularities following a whistleblower investigation and restatement of previously issued financial statements.
• A committee of the board of American Renal Associates Holdings in connection with DOJ and SEC investigations, and in a shareholder class action and derivative action.
• A founder and former CEO of a technology company in a commercial dispute in Los Angeles Superior Court.
• A start-up technology company in an investigation by the SEC and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, and in federal and state class actions.
• A hedge fund manager in investigations by the SEC, CFTC and National Futures Association concerning the process of marking-to-market illiquid instruments and computing the Net Asset Value at which interests in the hedge fund were purchased and redeemed.
• SEACOR Power in investigations and a public trial conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board concerning the capsizing of a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in 13 fatalities.
• The ad hoc committee of secured lenders to education company EDMC in an out-of-court restructuring at a preliminary injunction hearing in federal district court concerning a novel issue under the Trust Indenture Act; also argued and won the Second Circuit appeal in the same case.
• Public companies and asset managers in internal investigations regarding corporate culture and #MeToo issues.
• A major financial institution in a DOJ FIRREA investigation and parallel SEC investigation regarding asset-backed securities.
• Numerous global banks and hedge fund managers in connection with insider trading investigations.

Earlier in her career, Antonia served for more than seven years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. During her tenure, Antonia handled a wide variety of criminal investigations and prosecutions, conducted numerous jury trials and briefed and argued several appeals. As a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, she led many of the government’s highest-profile securities fraud and insider trading prosecutions, including the landmark case U.S. v. Newman for which she was the lead prosecutor at trial and on appeal. She also received the DOJ’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Antonia was a partner at a premier litigation boutique in Washington, D.C., representing companies and individuals in high-stakes commercial litigation.

Awards & Recognitions

Antonia has received numerous industry accolades, including being ranked in Chambers USA for white collar crime and government investigations, where clients and colleagues highlighted her “brilliant legal mind.” She has also been included on The National Law Journal’s “Litigation Trailblazers” and Crain’s New York Business’s “Notable Women in Law” lists. She was named a Lawdragon Legend in 2025 and as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America each year for a 10-year period. She has also been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “National Practice Area Star” and a “Local Litigation Star” in White Collar Crime; by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Expert Guide as a leading practitioner for white collar crime; and by The Legal 500 for corporate investigations and white collar criminal defense. Antonia was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2022.

In addition to her practice, Antonia teaches a course on white collar criminal law and procedure at Harvard Law School. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on white collar and securities enforcement issues, presenting at programs by the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association, American Bar Association, New York City Bar Association and Practising Law Institute.