Steven J. Buttacavoli

Steven Buttacavoli, a partner in Berman Tabacco’s Boston office, works hard to deliver financial justice by litigating securities and consumer financial fraud matters and by representing whistleblowers who provide information and assistance to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other law enforcement agencies. Steve also represents consumers who have been victimized by data breaches and the theft and/or misuse of sensitive personal, financial, or health-related information.

Since joining the Firm in 2009, Steve has played a leading role in the investigation and prosecution of several securities class actions that have resulted in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, Steve was named a Super Lawyer by New England/Massachusetts Super Lawyers. He also has been ranked by The Legal 500 as a Recommended Attorney in Securities Litigation (2017-2019).

Steve also represents current and former Massachusetts firefighters in complex, federal multidistrict litigation alleging that the firefighters’ exposure to PFAS “forever chemicals” in protective turnout gear and firefighting foam caused the firefighters to be diagnosed with and treated for cancers and other serious illnesses. He also led Berman Tabacco’s efforts to bring financial justice to people who were taken advantage of by unlawful online payday lending schemes.

Prior to joining Berman Tabacco, Steve worked as an associate at major Boston-based corporate law firms where he represented corporate and individual clients in the defense of securities class actions, SEC investigations, and white-collar criminal matters, conducted internal investigations, and advised clients on legal and reputational risk analyses and mitigation strategies. Steve has also advised clients regarding legal and ethical considerations in the context of relationships with federal, state and local governments.

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., magna cum laude, 2001)
• Georgetown University (M.P.P., 1997)
• College of William & Mary (A.B., International Relations, 1993)

Experience

• Currently serving as one of the firm’s lead attorneys representing the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System in a federal securities class action alleging that Inotiv, Inc. and certain of its officers misled investors regarding the treatment of research beagles housed at a breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia and the risks associated with an ongoing federal criminal investigation into the importation of research primates from Asia, In re Inotiv, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 4:22-cv-00045-PPS (N.D. Ind.).
• Currently serving as co-counsel in complex, federal multidistrict litigation representing Massachusetts firefighters who allege injuries, including cancer and other serious illnesses, caused by the firefighters’ exposure to PFAS “forever chemicals” in turnout gear and firefighting foam, Marchetti, et al. v. 3M Co., et al., No. 1:22-cv-10251 (D. Mass.) and Babstock, et al. v. 3M Co., et al., No. 1:22-cv-11149 (D. Mass), consolidated in In re: Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation, No. 2:18-mn-2873-RMG (D.S.C.).
• One of the firm’s lead attorneys who represented a large public pension fund in a federal securities class action that alleged various improper accounting practices and the failure to disclose an SEC investigation, Utah Retirement Systems v. Healthcare Services Group, Inc., et al., No. 2:19-cv-01227-ER (E.D. Pa.), which settled for $16.8 million in 2022.
• Leading member of the day-to-day litigation team that represented the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, co-Lead Plaintiff in In re BP p.l.c. Securities Litigation, No. 10-md-2185 (S.D. Tex.), which successfully achieved a $175 million settlement on behalf of investors who purchased BP’s American Depositary Shares following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
• Represented four Ohio pension funds in connection with the litigation and 2021 settlement of Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, et al. v. BP p.l.c., No. 12-cv-1837 (S.D. Tex.), a separate, individual action filed against BP in connection with the Ohio funds’ purchase of BP ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange.
• One of the firm’s lead attorneys in a class action brought on behalf of investors in limited partnerships associated with the Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont, Daccache, et al. v. Raymond James Financial, Inc., et al., 16-cv-21575 (S.D. Fla.), which recovered over $150 million to benefit investors who were harmed by an alleged Ponzi-like scheme.
• One of the leading members of the Berman Tabacco litigation team that represented the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois in In re General Electric Co. Securities Litigation, No. 09-cv-1951 (S.D.N.Y.), which settled for $40 million in 2013.
• A key member of the Berman Tabacco litigation team that represented two large institutional investor clients as co-lead plaintiffs in In re BankUnited Securities Litigation, No. 08-CV-22572 (S.D. Fla.), which recovered over $3 million for investors in an action that alleged misrepresentations regarding pre-financial crisis residential mortgage loan portfolios.
• Lead member of the Berman Tabacco team that prosecuted federal RICO class actions against the operators and financial backers of unlawful, sham “rent-a-tribe” online payday lending schemes, including Solomon, et al. v. American Web Loan, Inc., et al., No. 17-cv-145 (E.D. Va.), Gingras, et al. v. Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC, et al., No. 17-cv-00233 (D. Vt.), Gingras, et al. v. Rosette, et al., No. 15-cv-101 (D. Vt.), and In re Think Finance, LLC, et al., No. 17-33964-hdh11 (Bankr. N.D. Tex.)., which succeeded in securing, collectively, over $126 million in cash and other relief for the consumer borrower classes in those matters.

Honors & Distinctions

• Named a Super Lawyer by New England/Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine (2021-2023)
• Recommended Attorney in Securities Litigation, The Legal 500 (2017-2019)
• Order of the Coif at Georgetown University Law Center
• Awarded Presidential Management Internship (now Presidential Management Fellowship), serving at the U.S. Department of the Treasury following graduate studies in Public Policy

Admissions

• State Bar of Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
• First Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals
• Second Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals
• Third Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals
• Fourth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals
• Eleventh Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals

Affiliations

• Boston Bar Association

Publications, Presentations & Appearances

• • Co-Author, Securities Litigation, in MASSACHUSETTS EXPERT WITNESSES (4th Ed. 2022).
• Co-Author, 10 Years of the Organizational Guidelines, The Time is Right for Review, 16 WHITE COLLAR CRIM. REPT. 1 (2002)
• Co-Author, Environmental Crimes, 37 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 333 (2000)