Firm Profile

Joseph A. Bondy is a New York City trial lawyer whose practice spans criminal defense, cannabis law, civil and criminal securities matters, regulatory proceedings, extradition and international matters, and crisis representations in which legal exposure, business risk, and public controversy often move at the same time.

A graduate of Columbia University and Brooklyn Law School, Mr. Bondy began his career in Manhattan criminal defense practice and established his own firm in 1996. Over time, he built a practice defined by difficult cases, substantial trial work, careful preparation, and advocacy that is disciplined, strategic, and effective.

For more than three decades, Mr. Bondy has represented clients at every stage of the criminal process, including investigation, indictment, trial, sentencing, appeal, forfeiture, and post-conviction litigation. He has tried RICO, murder, money laundering, marijuana, narcotics-trafficking, securities-fraud, and bribery cases to verdict. His criminal and related matters have also included organized-crime prosecutions, complex financial cases, treaty-based sentencing issues, extradition matters, and representations involving individuals apprehended abroad and returned to the United States.

Among other significant matters, Mr. Bondy represented Peter Gotti in a major prosecution in the Southern District of New York involving allegations of organized-crime leadership, conspiracy to murder Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, and participation in the so-called Concrete Commission. He has also secured federal acquittals in serious fraud-related prosecutions and numerous below-Guidelines outcomes over government objection through sustained sentencing advocacy. Throughout his career, he has approached sentencing as a critical stage of advocacy, not an afterthought.

A defining feature of Mr. Bondy’s practice is its unusual breadth. He is not simply a criminal defense lawyer who later added cannabis work, nor a regulatory lawyer borrowing the language of trial practice. His work genuinely bridges both worlds. Long before cannabis law became fashionable, he was representing clients in criminal, licensing, compliance, business, and crisis-management matters in the space. He was also a member of the legal team in Washington v. Barr, the landmark federal challenge to cannabis’s Schedule I classification.

Mr. Bondy’s public-facing matters have ranged widely. They include the representation of Lev Parnas in criminal and SEC-related matters; the representation of Raymond Trapani in the Centra Tech cryptocurrency-fraud proceedings; and representations before the Federal Election Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and in other civil and criminal securities matters.

Mr. Bondy is a current member of the International Bar Association and is available to represent American citizens detained abroad. His international work includes treaty-related sentencing issues, extradition matters, and representations involving individuals apprehended through Interpol channels. These matters often demand not only technical knowledge, but urgency, discretion, and the ability to coordinate legal strategy across jurisdictions.

Mr. Bondy serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and has long been active in public education, speaking, and reform efforts. He founded In the Know 420, an early radio and streaming program focused on cannabis law and policy, and remains a frequent commentator on criminal justice, cannabis policy, and the politics of prosecution. He has also served as Vice President and a board member of the Cannabis Cultural Association.

He has long been committed to the profession itself. For more than twenty-five years, Mr. Bondy has served on the faculty of Cardozo Law School’s Intensive Trial Advocacy Program, helping train future litigators in the craft of trial practice. He lectures regularly on trial strategy, sentencing, cannabis law, and related issues, and is a lifetime member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

What distinguishes Mr. Bondy’s practice is not merely its breadth, but its method. He prepares exhaustively. He speaks plainly. He understands that serious legal problems are rarely only legal problems. And he approaches every matter—whether confidential or highly public—with the same premise: the lawyer’s job is not merely to manage exposure, but to protect the client, confront the facts, and press every sound argument the law permits.

Recognition and Commentary

Mr. Bondy’s work has drawn recognition from clients, the press, and the broader legal and cannabis communities. The New York Times described him as “eloquent and armed with the serene demeanor of a surgeon,” adding that “his oratorical intensity hovers at the evangelical.” High Times called him “one of the nation’s preeminent cannabis attorneys.” His representations and commentary have also been featured by CNN, Politico, and the New York Law Journal, among other outlets. Client testimonials and public reviews repeatedly emphasize meticulous preparation, strategic judgment, and steadfast advocacy. 

Selected Experience

• Tried RICO, murder, money laundering, marijuana, narcotics-trafficking, securities-fraud, and bribery cases to verdict.

• Represented Lev Parnas (a former associate of Rudy Giuliani in the Trump-Ukraine matter) in criminal and SEC-related proceedings arising from one of the most closely watched political scandals in recent memory. 

• Represented Raymond Trapani (a co-founder of Centra Tech) in the Centra Tech cryptocurrency-fraud proceedings. 

• Secured separate trial acquittals in the Southern District of New York, in Nigerian advance-fee fraud and conspiracy-to-defraud-the-United-States prosecutions.

• Represented Peter Gotti (the former acting boss of the Gambino crime family, as alleged by the government) in a major Southern District of New York organized-crime prosecution.

• Represented Justo Pastor Perafán-Homen (described by the government as the head of a Colombian narcotics cartel and extradited from Venezuela) in limiting his sentence under the terms of extradition. 

• Represented Dr. Wilfred P. Gooden (a prominent Harlem builder and developer) in securing dismissal of two HUD-related federal complaints in the Southern District of New York.

• Represented clients before the SEC, FEC, and PCAOB in civil, criminal, and administrative matters.

• Obtained numerous below-Guidelines sentencing outcomes over government objection through sustained sentencing advocacy.

• Handled treaty-based sentencing issues, extradition matters, and representations involving individuals apprehended abroad and returned to the United States.

• Available to represent American citizens detained abroad in high-stakes cross-border criminal matters.