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    Christopher Michael Viapiano

    Partner

    Washington, D.C. +1-202-956-7500
    viapianoc@sullcrom.com
    Christopher Michael Viapiano Headshot Photo

    Washington, D.C.

    +1-202-956-7500

    |

    viapianoc@sullcrom.com

    Email vCard

    Christopher Viapiano is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group, Co-Head of the Firm’s Securities Litigation Practice and a member of the Criminal Defense & Investigations Group. Mr. Viapiano represents financial institutions and other leading companies in securities and shareholder derivative litigation, antitrust and commodities litigation, books and records demands and litigation, criminal and regulatory enforcement matters, and corporate internal investigations. He has represented clients under investigation by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and state attorneys general. Mr. Viapiano clerked for the Honorable Donald F. Parsons, Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery (2005-2006).

    Mr. Viapiano was named a Client Service All-Star by BTI in 2019 and 2022. Mr. Viapiano was also recognized as one of the “500 Leading Litigators in America” by Lawdragon in 2024 and 2025.

    Experience

    • Discover Financial Services in a securities fraud action arising out of the misclassification of credit cards for interchange purposes, and in multiple related government investigations.
    • Wells Fargo in securities fraud and shareholder derivative actions arising out of allegations of fake interviews of diverse candidates and discrimination in mortgage lending.
    • Wells Fargo in resolving high-profile SDNY and SEC investigations into allegations concerning the bank’s diversity hiring practices, both of which were closed without any action taken against the bank.
    • JPMorgan Chase in securities and bankruptcy litigation arising out of the bankruptcy of Millennium Health, a drug testing company.
    • Wells Fargo in securities fraud and shareholder derivative actions arising out of allegations of non-compliance with regulatory consent orders.
    • MUFG Bank, Ltd. in investigations by the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission arising out of allegations of the manipulation of various interbank offered rates, all of which were closed without any action against the bank, and related antitrust and commodities class actions.

    • Wells Fargo in investigations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the global resolution of multiple investigations in December 2022.
    • Wells Fargo in multiple securities fraud and shareholder derivative actions arising out of allegations of improper sales practices in its Community Bank and the forced placement of auto insurance.
    • One of the largest ocean container shipping companies in a Department of Justice criminal cartel investigation.
    • MUFG Bank, Ltd. in obtaining a motion to quash a post-judgment citation and subpoenas. The citation and subpoenas purportedly required MUFG, which operates hundreds of branches in more than 40 countries around the world, to conduct a worldwide search for Iranian assets and, if it found such assets, to freeze them and produce documents and information about them.
    • JPMorgan Chase in consolidated securities fraud, shareholder derivative and ERISA litigation arising out of the bank’s 2012 so-called “London Whale” trading losses.
    • BP p.l.c. in Norex Petroleum Ltd. v. Access Industries, Inc. et al., a $1 billion RICO and tort litigation in both federal and state court in New York relating to BP’s joint venture interests in Russia.
    • Thomas W. Weisel in a qui tam action brought on behalf of the U.S. government by former professional cyclist Floyd Landis in connection with the doping scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong and the United States Postal Service Cycling Team.

    News

    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    Credentials

    Education

    • Stanford Law School, J.D., 2005
    • Hamilton College, B.A., 2002

    Bar Admissions

    • District of Columbia
    • New York

    Clerkships

    • The Honorable Donald F. Parsons, Jr., Delaware Court of Chancery, 2005-2006

    Related Practices