Ifrah Law expands team as Polymarket reportedly ousts marketing chief
Ifrah Law has hired six staff and named a new managing partner, while Polymarket is said to have fired its CMO and Crypto.com and NCPG both installed new leaders.
Washington D.C. firm Ifrah Law has brought in six new professionals spanning iGaming regulation, litigation, compliance and operations, SBC Americas reported this week, alongside a reshuffle at the top of the practice.
Michelle Cohen has been elevated to managing partner, and Sara Dalsheim has been promoted to counsel. The firm told SBC Americas it has seen particularly strong client demand for defence work against class actions and mass arbitrations.
Among the new arrivals is Sondra Grigsby, a trial lawyer with more than 16 years' experience who joins as a member from Kasowitz LLP. Andrew Snell comes aboard as compliance counsel after serving as acting legal and compliance manager at an online casino group based in Malta.
Jerin Horton takes over as chief operating officer, bringing over eight years of law firm management background. The associate ranks grow with Halina Bereday, who clerked for a federal judge in Wyoming's district court before practicing at Norton Rose Fulbright, and Nicholas Velez, who arrives from Lowenstein Sandler and spent six years in the Marine Corps Reserve. Jessica Hawkins joins as a paralegal from Sodexo.
"This is a highly regulated and closely watched industry that's seeing an increase in high-stakes legal challenges," said Ifrah Law founding member Jeff Ifrah, adding that Cohen has been central to building the firm's iGaming practice.
Cohen said the incoming group draws on backgrounds "from the courtroom, government, private practice and inside the gaming industry."
Elsewhere, prediction market operator Polymarket has dismissed chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber following an internal review, the New York Post reported citing unnamed sources, as flagged by SBC Americas. The company's departure has not been confirmed on the record: a spokeswoman for Polymarket would not comment, and Modabber did not reply when the Post sought comment.
Modabber took the CMO role in January 2024 and lists himself on LinkedIn as the company's eleventh employee. A source told the Post that Polymarket is working through a separation agreement with him.
The internal review reportedly followed a Wall Street Journal story in June alleging that staff under Modabber built a fake webpage promoting staged footage of users profiting from fabricated trades. That report triggered a Commodity Futures Trading Commission inquiry that is still open, and no wrongdoing has been established against Modabber or Polymarket.
Crypto.com has named Mohammed Mortajine as chief compliance officer, tasked with strengthening governance and expanding compliance oversight across the group's payments, derivatives and prediction market businesses, which operate under varying regulatory regimes. Mortajine previously held compliance leadership posts at Western Union, ACI Worldwide and Paysafe, overseeing programmes across more than 200 countries and territories. He succeeds Antonio Alvarez, who departed for Binance.
The appointment lands as the House Oversight Committee seeks records from Crypto.com on safeguards for its prediction markets, including identity verification and geographic restrictions.
"We are incredibly excited to welcome Mohammed to build the next generation of global financial compliance operations," said Crypto.com chief executive Kris Marszalek, citing his "deep regulatory expertise, proven executive judgment, and track record of building global compliance programs at scale."
The National Council on Problem Gambling has named Charles H. Jeffers II interim executive director, effective immediately. Jeffers runs The Jeffers Group, a consultancy focused on interim executive leadership, governance and organisational culture, and has earlier held interim leadership of the American Occupational Therapy Association and led the Bermuda Tourism Authority as its chief executive.
He takes over from Heather Maurer, who resigned after less than a year in the role amid criticism of a $2 million, two-year investment in NCPG from prediction market operator Kalshi. Regulators in Michigan and Ohio, along with problem gambling nonprofits in Nevada and Washington, withdrew from NCPG over the arrangement.
NCPG board president Derek Longmeier said Jeffers' "depth of experience in understanding culture dynamics, operational demands, and board governance is key to our selecting him" for the interim post. A search for a permanent executive director, to be led by Vetted Solutions, is due to begin in January 2027.