Overview
Practice Areas
Litigation • Securities Enforcement • White Collar Defense & Investigations •
Industry Experience
Banking & Finance • Cannabis Law • Privacy & Data Security •
Lee Vartan is a highly regarded criminal defense and trial attorney who handles high-stakes investigations and litigation in New Jersey and throughout the region. He regularly represents individuals in significant prosecutions brought by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Attorney Generals’ Offices, and local prosecutors, as well as companies in high-stakes investigations brought by criminal and civil regulators.
Clients choose Lee not only because he has successfully tried more than a dozen criminal jury trials in federal and state courts, but also for his significant experience at all levels of federal and state government. Before becoming a defense attorney, Lee was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey, and the First Assistant Attorney General in New Jersey, the second-highest ranking position in the Attorney General’s Office, charged with oversight of all criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions, as well as the New Jersey State Police and the Division of Gaming Enforcement. Lee also has close ties with top leaders at the Department of Justice and is regularly called upon to intervene in the most difficult and sensitive cases.
Lee has successfully represented members of Congress, top advisors to the Governor of New Jersey, a former chief of staff to a U.S. Senator, top law enforcement officials, a world-renowned fashion designer, and hedge fund managers, as well as some of the region’s best known and most successful companies. In 2024, he secured the full acquittal after trial of a prominent rabbi in Lakewood, New Jersey who founded a special needs school. In 2025, he secured the full dismissal of an indictment against a prominent New Jersey attorney in what was one of the New Jersey Attorney General’s most notable recent prosecutions.
Because of Lee’s extensive trial experience in both federal and state courts, he also maintains an active civil litigation practice – having served as lead trial counsel for one of the country’s largest utility companies and some of the region’s biggest businesses.
Previously, the State of New Jersey selected Lee to serve as the trustee for Eldorado Resorts, Inc.’s $1.85 billion acquisition of Tropicana Entertainment Inc. in Atlantic City. In that role, Lee monitored the day-to-day operations of Eldorado Resorts in Atlantic City while the State investigated the company for casino licensure.
Lee is also co-chair of the firm’s Cannabis Law Team. While serving in the Attorney General’s Office, Lee was responsible for helping to author the regulations for New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA) and vetting and approving applicants for licensure. He has used that experience to guide and position cannabis companies from across the country for entry into New Jersey’s burgeoning market.
Lee is a former adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law where he taught a course on federal criminal practice and cybercrimes. He is regularly quoted in Bloomberg, The Associated Press, The Star-Ledger, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications, on criminal prosecutions and criminal practice.
*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
Honors
- Included in Chambers USA, New Jersey Litigation: White Collar Criminal Defense & Government Investigations (2018-2025); Nationwide: Eastern US – Cannabis Law (2021-2025)
- Included in The Best Lawyers in America®, Criminal Defense: General Practice (2025-2026)
- Selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers list, Criminal Defense: White-Collar (2020-2026)
- Included in ROI-NJ, Influencers: Power 2025 – Law (2025)
- Included in NJBIZ, Leaders in Law (2025)
- Recipient, Scouting America Patriots’ Path Council, Morris County Lifetime Achievement Award (2025)
- Included in InsiderNJ, Insider 100: Cannabis Power List (2021)
- Included in The National Law Journal, Cannabis Law Trailblazer (2020)
Award Methodology
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Involvement
- Acenda Integrated Health, Board Member
- Mercury, Advisory Board
Education
- Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2003)
- Princeton University (B.A., cum laude, 2000)
Admissions
- New Jersey
- New York
Overview
Recent representative matters include:
- Acquittal at trial of the founder of a special needs school in New Jersey on the most serious counts of theft of public funds and reversal of the convictions on the lesser counts because of prosecutorial misconduct, State v. Eisemann
- Complete dismissal of a $300 million federal securities fraud indictment, where client instead pleaded to a misdemeanor and received a time-served sentence, United States v. Bakhshi
- Complete dismissal of a $50 million federal prescription fraud indictment, United States v. Sara Hickman
- Complete dismissal of State sexual assault indictment against former Chopped contestant, State v. Yehudiel
- Complete dismissal of State indictment against top New Jersey hospital executive for storing firearms in his workplace, State v. Alonalayoff
- Complete dismissal of a manslaughter indictment against the son of a former high-ranking official in the New York City Mayor’s Office after uncovering grand jury abuse and prosecutorial misconduct, State v. Noerdlinger
- Complete dismissal of State complaint charging a $2.5 million investment scam, State v. Joseph Whitney
- Complete dismissal of State complaint charging conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, State v. Suzanne Rasmussen
- Represented one of the highest-ranking officials at a State public university in a criminal investigation where the official began as the target, but was proven, by Lee, to be the victim
- Secured a gubernatorial pardon and returned to his police department a Morris County police officer who had previously pleaded guilty to an offense that included a lifetime ban on serving as an officer
- Successfully navigated a witness through the investigation of Senator Robert Menendez by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan
- Represented Hoboken cannabis dispensary in contentious litigations to prevent the dispensary from opening, which ultimately were settled with the dispensary being permitted to open
- Steered a multinational artificial turf company through simultaneous investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, several attorney generals, and the New Jersey Legislature, each of which was closed with no findings against the company
- Successfully navigated several witnesses through the “Bridgegate” prosecution spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey
- Served as counsel for a leading New York and New Jersey automobile dealership in a False Claims Act investigation by the New York Attorney General, which was successfully closed
- Successfully represented a former New Jersey State Assemblyman in an investigation by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation
- Successfully recovered several million dollars in assets wrongly seized by the federal government from a Texas company, United States v. One 2014 Black Porsche Cayman Coupe, et al.
- Served as counsel for a not-for-profit in a lawsuit alleging a New Jersey hospital breached an agreement with the not-for-profit to build a hotel valued at over $100 million on the hospital’s campus, which lawsuit was favorably settled
- Served as counsel for one of the defendants charged in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, United States v. Davidson
*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.