Ben served as Acting General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2024 through 2025 and was the Principal Deputy General Counsel at HUD starting in 2022. Ben supervised a legal department of more than 400 lawyers and advised the Secretary and senior Department leadership on wide variety of program, grant, litigation, enforcement, legislative, and ethics issues. As Principal Deputy, Ben had specific responsibility for Congressional oversight, coordination of oversight responses with other agencies, interaction with the Office of Inspector General, and was involved in HUD’s major enforcement and litigation matters.
Prior to joining HUD, Ben had a successful 32-year career in private practice. Ben was the Managing or Co-Managing Partner of Buckley LLP, a financial services and white collar/complex civil litigation firm from 2009 through 2022. While leading the firm, Ben maintained active financial services and white-collar practices representing banks, non-bank financial services companies, individuals and corporations in federal and state enforcement investigations, examinations, complex civil and class action litigation, and Congressional investigations. He also conducted corporate internal investigations and represented companies and individuals in criminal and civil enforcement matters. Ben also served as an Assistant Independent Counsel in the matter of In re Michael Espy.
Ben has handled numerous high-profile matters from representing a former Secretary of Defense in the Iran-Contra Scandal to assisting the Special Counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee in the Keating Five matter to successfully representing three top 20 banks in resolving for more than $300 million Civil False Claims Act cases.
Ben was ranked by Chambers USA (2010-2021) as a leading lawyer in Financial Services Regulation and as a Recognized Practitioner in White Collar Crime & Government Investigations. He also has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Legal 500 and Washington DC Super Lawyers.
Ben graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and from The George Washington University, summa cum laude. He serves on the Board of Regents of Morgan State University and the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. He is a Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. Ben has served as Chair of the National Council for the Arts and Sciences, Columbian College, The George Washington University and as a Board Member of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.