About me
David A. Castleman, a member of the firm, practices in Otterbourg P.C.’s Restructuring & Bankruptcy, and Litigation Departments. Mr. Castleman, who is admitted in both New York and California, focuses primarily on federal equity receiverships, bankruptcies, and complex litigation in state and federal courts.
In a case brought by the CFTC in the Southern District of New York in 2022, Castleman was appointed as Receiver over a $250 million alleged internet-based Ponzi scheme that operated largely using offshore cryptocurrency transactions. Under Castleman’s leadership, the receivership recovered over $150 million for the benefit of claimants, including over $90 million in cryptocurrency held overseas. Castleman has supervised a complex claims and distribution process for over 35,000 investors, using cutting edge technology to streamline the claims process to improve participation rates and reduce the burden on claimants.
As part of the Otterbourg trial team serving as co-lead counsel to the Official Committee of Talc Creditors, Castleman helped secure dismissal of a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary (LTL) arising from J&J’s talc liabilities. Castleman has also represented securities class action plaintiffs in ancillary bankruptcy proceedings, and has provided legal and strategic advice to other Otterbourg receiverships.
Prior to joining Otterbourg, Castleman served as counsel to the receiver in a number of cases brought by both the SEC and the CFTC. As counsel, Castleman assisted in efforts to settle claims with hundreds of net winners, to restructure an intricate investment to allow claimants to receive their preferred in-kind distributions, and on the distribution and financial management of both public and non-public securities.
Castleman also served as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York Investor Protection Bureau, where he helped achieve a complex $714 million global settlement. While an Assistant Attorney General, Castleman also analyzed the regulatory implications of Bitcoin and c ryptocurrency when those technologies were in their nascency.
Before his appointment as an Assistant Attorney General, Castleman spent many years at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, where he represented a major national bank in the resolution of billions of dollars of mortgage-related claims arising out of the 2007-08 financial crisis. Castleman also represented a number of other clients in the financial industry in complex cases, as well as maintaining an active pro bono practice largely focused on LGBT equality issues.
Castleman is the co-chair of the Amicus Committee of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, and is a member of the Federal Bar Council and the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. In 2012, Castleman was selected by the National LGBT Bar as one of the “Best LGBT Lawyers under 40,” and in 2013 he was awarded the Michael A. Cooper Award for Outstanding Public Service. He is a member of the CUNY Law School LGBTQ+ Advisory Council.
Castleman graduated Order of the Coif (top 10%) and cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2006, where he was Executive Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and winner of the Amram Prize for best paper in Civil Procedure. He graduated from Dartmouth College cum laude in 2001, majoring in computer science and history, and was a software engineer at Oracle Corp. before going to law school.