Kenneth M. Harmon


Ken’s practice focuses primarily on representation of individuals and businesses in white-collar criminal and related regulatory matters, including those involving allegations of federal criminal tax fraud, securities fraud and investment fraud; internal investigations; business crimes; and whistleblower and qui tam actions.  Ken is a former federal prosecutor with  twenty-eight years’ experience in federal criminal law enforcement, serving eight years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida and the balance of his time as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Colorado.


Ken began his career investigating and prosecuting complex white-collar matters in the mid-1990s, when he was appointed to a four-member securities fraud task force in the Southern District of Florida charged with investigating and prosecuting complex, securities fraud related offenses. After training with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ken went on to serve in this task force with cross-designated attorneys from the SEC’s Enforcement Division and investigated and successfully prosecuted, among others, executives of publicly traded companies engaged in accounting fraud, and a network of stockbrokers involved in a nationwide broker bribery scheme.


Ken continued handling complex white-collar matters after coming to Colorado in 1998, leading investigations and prosecutions involving a broad spectrum of subjects and offenses, including numerous investment fraud, tax fraud and government program fraud cases, and typically working these matters in close coordination with a variety of federal law enforcement and federal civil regulatory agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the SEC, the Colorado Division of Securities and FINRA, among others.  He also continued to pursue and prosecute securities fraud matters and led the criminal investigation and prosecution of one of a handful of securities insider trading cases brought in the District of Colorado within the past decade.


Ken’s experience as a white-collar prosecutor also included a number of matters with international dimensions, including a series of undercover investigations targeting foreign internet pharmacy operations trafficking in dangerous counterfeit and unapproved pharmaceutical drugs and the foreign nationals behind these operations. Working with federal law enforcement agents and foreign government and pharmaceutical industry investigators, Ken helped design and lead undercover lure operations leading to the apprehension of internet pharmacy traffickers located in China, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Israel, among other places. He thereafter successfully prosecuted these foreign nationals.


Ken began his legal career as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City, where he assisted in federal civil litigation involving a variety of matters ranging from anti-trust and securities-related corporate control contests to engineering malpractice cases.


In addition to his law practice, Ken also serves in an executive position, with general counsel responsibilities, for a litigation finance company. His responsibilities include the review and assessment of whistleblower matters for third-party financing.


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“I now use the skills I learned and developed at a BigLaw NYC law firm and as a career white-collar prosecutor to help business and other professionals navigate and overcome the challenges presented to them in an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment, whether it be addressing a government subpoena or summons, blowing the whistle on fraud and corruption in the workplace, dealing with an unlawful employment termination, addressing an investment fraud or combating criminal accusations in court.


Decades ago, when I was in law school, I had a professor who told his students that Lawyers should be like Taxicab Drivers, always willing and ready to pick up a fare and take a passenger to wherever desired. Over the years, I have chosen another way. I maintain a selective practice. I am not a Lawyer who is open to handling a Car-Crash case one day and a sophisticated investment fraud the next. I will listen to your case, I won’t over promise (or under promise) and if I think I can help you, I will; if not, I will refer you to those whom I believe can.”

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

  • Colorado
  • New York
  • District of Colorado
  • Eastern District of New York
  • Southern District of New York
  • Northern District of Florida


PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

  • Colorado Bar Association
  • Arapahoe Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
  • Faculty of Federal Advocates, District of Colorado
  • National Trial Lawyers Association, Top 100


EDUCATION

  • J. D., Harvard Law School, 1985
  • B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1982