Rahul Agarwal

Rahul Agarwal is an accomplished trial lawyer and a seasoned litigator. He has a multi-faceted practice focused on representing corporate and individual clients in a variety of white collar defense and investigations matters as well as in connection with complex commercial litigation and crisis management.

Rahul practiced at Friedman Kaplan earlier in his career before leaving the firm to become a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey where he served for nearly a decade, including as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, and as Acting Principal Assistant United States Attorney (where he was second in command in the Office). During his tenure, Rahul handled and supervised a broad range of investigations and prosecutions, including those involving public corruption, civil rights, healthcare fraud, mortgage and bank fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, identity theft, national security, and cybercrime, as well as firearms, violent crime, and narcotics matters.  Notably, Rahul led the successful prosecutions of a $30 million mortgage fraud scheme and a $7 million ATM-skimming bank fraud conspiracy. He also prosecuted a former Hoboken mayoral candidate for vote-buying and a former Manalapan mayor for fraud and identify theft. Rahul received the DOJ’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance for his investigation and prosecution of several Paterson police officers for civil rights violations.

Immediately prior to rejoining Friedman Kaplan in early 2024, Rahul served as Deputy Chief Counsel in the office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, where he advised the Mayor and City Hall on a wide range of legal, ethical, and strategic matters involving criminal justice, health, education, economic development, human rights, and housing. He worked closely with the federal and New York State governments on behalf of the City and provided operational, budgetary, and policy oversight to ten City agencies, including the Office of Labor Relations, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, and the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Rahul was selected to Chambers & Partners’ list of ranked lawyers in the Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations in New Jersey category of the 2025 Chambers USA guide. A description of the selection methodology can be found here. (No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.) Rahul was the recipient of the South Asian Bar Association of New York’s 2025 Litigation Achievement Award as well as the New York County Lawyers Association Asian Practice Committee’s 2025 Hong Yen Chang Award.

Representative Matters

• Obtained the speedy dismissal of a federal criminal complaint against Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka following his highly public May 2025 arrest by federal agents while visiting a migrant detention facility in his city.
• Representation of a large New Jersey municipality in connection with a federal criminal investigation.
• Defense of the former head of U.S. Treasuries trading for a major brokerage firm in connection with a federal indictment alleging spoofing and market manipulation in the District of New Jersey.
• Representation of an individual in connection with federal insider trading indictment in the District of New Jersey.
• Representation of an individual charged in connection with a cyber-fraud scheme in the District of New Jersey.
• Representation of a senior-level employee in connection with an internal investigation into alleged earnings manipulation at a large pharmaceutical company.
• Representation of multiple owners of jewelry companies in connection with separate federal criminal enforcement actions, in the District of New Jersey and the Northern District of Illinois, charging money transmitting and customs duty evasion offenses.
• Representation of Atlas Data Privacy in litigation seeking to enforce Daniel's Law, a New Jersey data privacy statute, against various data brokers. 
• Representation of a former DOJ official in connection with a federal criminal investigation.
• Representation of Biz2Credit, an online financing platform for small businesses, in litigation seeking to enforce loan agreements and enforce judgments. 
• Representation of a real estate investment trust and mortgage servicer in connection with claims asserted by the New York City Human Rights Commission.
• Representation of a governmental agency in connection with a federal civil investigation in the District of New Jersey.
• Representation of an individual in an investigation conducted by the New York State Division of Licensing Services. 
• Representation of individuals in connection with a federal criminal healthcare fraud investigation in the District of New Jersey.

Outside the Office

In addition to his active litigation and white collar defense practice, Rahul is a dedicated leader in New York and in the legal community. Rahul was recently appointed to New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, the largest police oversight entity in the United States, and appointed as a Trustee of the New York State Interest on Lawyer Account Fund, which helps low-income New Yorkers obtain civil legal services to protect their most basic needs, such as access to food, shelter, jobs, and health care. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program, which helps cultivate and develop future leaders from underserved communities, and on the Lawyers Advisory Committee of the New York City Debate League.

Rahul is a long time member of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and previously served a term as the organization’s President and multiple terms on its Board of Directors. Additionally, Rahul has served as an editor for the American Bar Association’s Litigation Journal since 2018.