Stuart Meissner

Stuart Meissner (born 1962 in Brooklyn N.Y.) is an American attorney. His firm Meissner Associates opened in 2001 with offices in Manhattan NY, and across the country focuses on the securities industry, investment disputes, FINRA attorney, SEC whistleblower matters.[1]

Meissner, born in 1962, graduated with bachelor's and J.D. degrees from Hofstra University and received a master of laws degree in corporate law from New York University.[2] He is a son of George Meissner of West Palm Beach, Fla.[2]

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks Meissner volunteered at Ground Zero on “the pile” on the “bucket brigade” along with fire and policemen sifting through debris trying to find survivors. As a result of his volunteer work after 9/11 in 2016, while also assisting in the 2016 presidential campaign, Meissner learned he had developed a rare cancer, which required major surgery and intensive chemotherapy, all the while continuing to support his children and oversee his law practice, but eventually survived his cancer scare.

Meissner is a former state prosecutor[3][4] and was a first time independent[5] candidate for U.S. Senate from the US state of New Jersey.[6] Running on an alimony reform platform with the slogan "Alimony Reform Now"[6], he headed a march dubbed the alimony POW Freedom Rally, to protest against "the horrific continuation of debtor's prison in New Jersey for those unable to pay their alimony".[7] Meissner pulled in a minority of votes in 2013 NJ special election for US Senate, falling behind 2, but ahead of 3, other independent candidates.[8]

Meissner was one of the earliest volunteers for the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 primary season, working in Trump Tower on a weekly basis from well before the first primaries began and long before the nomination. Following the successful Presidential campaign Meissner continued representing clients as SEC whistleblowers, focusing on large financial institutions including Morgan Stanley, UBS, Wells Fargo, and Citizens Securities.

In 2016 his client was awarded over 22 million dollars from the SEC as a result of the Dodd Frank SEC Whistleblower program, which was the largest award given to any US citizen in the history of the program.[9] Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards, which allow whistleblowers to collect up to 30% of punitive damages in SEC cases, have formed a primary focus of Meissner's work; his website previously featured "a whistle, a bag of money, and a picture of himself glowering. “Your whistleblower award could be worth millions of dollars,” it says. “We will beat any competing fee arrangement by 20 percent.” While Meissner "doesn’t seem too picky about his clients", he "says he vets his clients extensively".[10]

In 2018 and 2019 Meissner took three clients who had all been fired from Tesla, Inc. and who were all seeking whistleblower protection in connection with their publishing of information regarding Tesla.[11][12] In connection with defending one of them in a case brought by Tesla, Meissner stated that while he had no investment in Tesla, he should short-sell their stock based on what he knew.[13] In December 2018 Meissner was no longer representing the defendant.[14] By March 2019 Meissner had filed SEC complaints against Tesla on behalf of the three former Tesla-employees.[15] As of April 2020 Meissner had not commented (via his web-site) on the SEC filings.

In September 2019 Meissner challenged Democratic U.S. Senator Cory Booker in the 2020 U.S. Senate Elections.[16] In February 2020 Meissner withdrew his candidacy.[17]

References
  1. "New York Investment Fraud Attorney". smeissner.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  2. "WEDDINGS: Stacey Cohen, Stuart Meissner". The New York Times. 1998-11-22.(Registration required)
  3. "Dumont man wants to run for Senate as independent". The Record. 2013-07-23. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28.
  4. "Dumont man wants to run for Senate as independent". bergennow.com. 2017-07-23. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  5. "Meissner for Senate 2013". Archived from the original on 2014-02-20.
  6. Campisi, Anthony (2013-08-13). "Dumont man among 6 to file for N.J. Senate run as third-party candidates". The Record. Archived from the original on 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  7. Davis, Joyce. "Stuart Meissner, Esq. Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate, New Jersey, Announces First Ever Alimony POW Freedom March". mmdnewswire.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-10. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  8. "Jersey Special Election Results 2013 - Map, County Results, Live Updates". Politico. 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  9. Morgenson, Gretchen (2016-09-09). "Monsanto Whistle-Blower: $22 Million Richer, but Not Satisfied". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-20.(Registration required)
  10. Robinson, Matt; Faux, Zeke (March 14, 2018). "When Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower". Bloomberg Businessweek – via Getpocket.com.
  11. "Here's What The DEA Said About Allegations Tesla Hid An Investigation Into Meth Trafficking At Its Gigafactory". Buzzfeed News. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  12. O'Kane, Sean (2019-03-11). "Another former Tesla security manager says the company spied on employees". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  13. Rapier, Graham (2018-07-13). "Attorney for the Tesla 'whistleblower' said he would short the stock based on what he now knows (TSLA)". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  14. Kolodny, Lora (2018-12-11). "Tesla is seeking $167 million in damages from the former employee Elon Musk accused of sabotage". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  15. Cao, Sissi (2019-03-11). "Tesla Whistleblower: Ex-Manager Accuses Elon Musk of Possible Insider Trading". observer.com. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  16. Avila, Joseph De (2019-09-23). "Former Prosecutor Launches Bid for Cory Booker's Senate Seat". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-09-30.(Registration required)
  17. Wildstein, David (2020-02-11). "Meissner to drop U.S. Senate bid against Booker". newjerseyglobe.com. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
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