A Litigation Partner based in the Firm’s New York office, George Wang co-leads both the Firm’s International Trade Regulatory Practice and also the Firm’s Asia Litigation Practice.
George has two decades of experience advising private funds, asset managers, financial institutions and other corporations on U.S. regulatory challenges faced in cross-border transactions. George regularly advises on U.S. outbound investment restrictions, economic sanctions, export controls, sensitive data, anti-corruption and other complex regulatory matters administered by OFAC, the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security and other governmental regulators. In his broad regulatory practice, George advocates before U.S. governmental authorities, handles governmental and internal investigations, provides transactional-oriented trade and sanctions advice, and guides companies with risk assessments, crisis management, and the development and implementation of internal policies and procedures.
George also has extensive experience representing companies, boards of directors and individuals in large, complex commercial cases and other “bet the company” matters. He has defended many of the largest U.S. and non-U.S. companies and their directors and officers in dozens of securities class actions. George has successfully secured the dismissal of securities class actions filed against many of the nation’s largest companies, including Best Buy, JPMorgan and Pfizer, as well as numerous Chinese and other foreign companies.
George also regularly represents clients in their most challenging contractual disputes. He is skilled in navigating companies and individuals through disputes with counterparties over contractual rights and obligations. He frequently advises on contractual indemnification disputes, commonly arising out of an ongoing or prior M&A, JV, co-funding or other strategic agreement. He is regular counsel to a Fortune 100 company on its indemnification disputes.
George’s representative matters include:
International Trade Regulatory Practice
- Outbound investment rule (OIR) advice to major Chinese issuers and U.S. underwriters in capital markets offerings and to private equity firms and other U.S. investors on M&A deals
- Advise private equity firms and multinational companies on U.S. regulatory issues including sanctions, export controls, sensitive data and anti-corruption
- Represent corporations, senior executives, board committees in sanctions and other investigations by DOJ, OFAC and other governmental regulators
- Conduct internal investigations of potential U.S. regulatory issues
Securities Litigation
- Landmark decision for Best Buy denying class certification in a securities class action (and a complete dismissal of investment fraud claims in a separate, unrelated action)
- Dismissal for Bright Health Group and its most senior executives of federal securities claims (recognized with a "Shout Out" in The American Lawyer's "Litigator of the Week" coverage)
- Dismissal for WW (Weight Watchers) in two different securities class actions alleging misrepresentations about membership statistics and business model changes
- Dismissal for JPMorgan in securities class action alleging securities fraud claims and misrepresentations in secondary offering documents
Complex Commercial Litigation
- Trial counsel for Pfizer in a 3-week arbitration in defense of a claim of failure to exercise commercially reasonable efforts
- Obtained watershed NY appellate court decision for Ruhnn completely dismissing all alleged misrepresentations as immaterial
- Lead counsel to Citigroup as plaintiff on a breach-of-contract claim, obtaining a judgment for over $50 million
- Dismissal for Carnival plc’s independent directors in shareholder derivative litigation alleging breaches of fiduciary duty concerning cruise ship operations
- Advise leading pharmaceutical company in connection with its contractual indemnification and breach-of-contract claims
George received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1995. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1998, where he was an Articles Editor of the Harvard Law Review. George joined Simpson Thacher in 1999, immediately following a clerkship with the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and was elected Partner in 2006.
George was recognized as a Rising Star by the New York Law Journal in its inaugural class of Rising Stars. George is recommended by The Legal 500, where sources call him “a sharp lawyer who is knowledgeable and highly experienced . . . incredibly client-oriented . . . [and] responsive, thorough and thoughtful.”