Kiersten A. Fletcher, ’10, Featured as Law360 Rising Star
Rising Star: Cahill Gordon's Kiersten A. Fletcher
Kiersten Fletcher of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP secured the conviction of a former congressional representative for insider trading as a prosecutor and in private practice defended a client accused of stealing bitcoins worth over $10 billion, earning her a spot among the white collar law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
Her proudest moment:
Fletcher said her proudest moment came early in her time as a defense attorney at Cahill Gordon when she secured a five-year sentence for a client accused of a $10 billion cryptocurrency hack.
Ilya Lichtenstein faced up to 20 years in prison for hacking the crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016 and attempting to launder the bitcoin he stole, which was worth about $71 million at the time, through various transactions.
Lichtenstein negotiated an agreement with prosecutors to provide testimony in a separate cryptocurrency money laundering trial, among other investigations. Fletcher took on representation of Lichtenstein during the sentencing phase of his case, and prosecutors later credited him for his "early and fulsome cooperation."
Lichtenstein was sentenced in 2024 but received credit for two years he already spent in jail following his arrest in 2022, leaving him with two years in prison and three years of supervised release.
"He was able to get a sentence of only five years for a crime that could have potentially exposed him to much, much longer, so I was very proud of that," Fletcher said.
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