U.S. Capitol. Credit: Mike Scarcella / NLJ

Eric Komitee, a nominee for a seat on Brooklyn's federal district court, earned $10.5 million in salary and bonus between 2016 and May 2018 as the general counsel to the hedge fund Viking Global Investors LP, according to newly disclosed financial records.

Komitee joined the New York-based hedge fund in 2008 following an eight-year stint in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, where he prosecuted violent crime and gun possession cases before leading the business and securities fraud section.

Eric Komitee

Komitee reported earning $7.2 million at Viking Global Investors in 2016. The following year, he made $3.2 million in salary and bonus, according to the disclosures. He reported $123,000 in income, listed only as salary, for the first few months of 2018. Komitee identified his net worth at nearly $60 million. Viking's new general counsel is Andrew Genser, formerly a white-collar litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis.

Komitee contributed $2,000 to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign in 2016. He did not donate to Trump or any other presidential candidate in the race, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Komitee said in his U.S. Senate questionnaire that he submitted his resume to the White House in February 2017 after learning of a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. A month later, he was interviewed by officials from the Justice Department and White House counsel's office. The White House in July told Komitee that his name was included on a list of potential nominees that had been shared with New York's senators, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

After a telephone interview with a member of Schumer's “judicial screening committee,” Komitee was told he would be nominated, “subject to agreement from New York senators” and his background check, according to his questionnaire.

In his Senate questionnaire, Komitee described himself as Viking Global Investors' first general counsel. In that role, Komitee said, he built up a nine-person legal and compliance department for a firm that manages about $25 billion in assets for institutional investors, including university endowments and government-owned investment funds. He also led the development of Viking's compliance policies and built a training program for employees in the firm's U.S. and international offices.

Komitee highlighted the pro bono program he instituted at Viking and the work he personally performed, including the “significant number of hours” he logged on a case he took through Sanctuary for Families, an organization that provides legal services to victims of domestic abuse. “Other members of the legal team have done extensive work for other legal-services organizations,” he wrote.

His financial disclosure also reveals interests in several investment funds, including some run by Viking Global Investors. Komitee said he is contractually obligated to maintain a specified minimum balance in certain funds managed by Viking. Following his departure from Viking Global Investors, he would be entitled to pull his money out over a three-year period, although the firm could elect to waive that provision and immediately return that money to him.

Komitee has spoken extensively on compliance best practices and insider trading. For the past several years, he has spoken to Yale Law School students in a white-collar crime class co-taught by professor Kate Stith and David Zornow, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Komitee was an associate in the government enforcement group at Skadden from 1998 to 2000. Earlier, he was a corporate associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1996 to 1998.

Komitee's confirmation hearing for the Eastern District of New York hasn't been set.