White Collar Defense is the core practice area of the Firm. We represent individual and corporate clients in government investigations and prosecutions. We routinely handle cases involving defense of federal and state criminal charges, investigations brought by state Attorneys General and other federal and state agencies, regulatory enforcement proceedings, related criminal and civil trials and appeals, and compliance with subpoenas for testimony or documents.
Our experience includes defending clients in investigations conducted by the United States Department of Justice and its various components, including U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). We also defend and represent clients who are witnesses, subjects, or targets in investigations initiated by numerous other federal and state law enforcement agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States Coast Guard, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, Department of Banking, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), and others.
Clients facing any level of involvement in a government investigation require responsiveness, sensitivity to potential collateral consequences, and careful decision making at every turn. We work closely with our clients to navigate through what can often be a complex and challenging process, while managing each case in a way that minimizes disruption to our clients and their businesses.
When necessary, we are prepared to go the distance and defend a prosecution through trial, and over the years we have obtained many favorable outcomes for our clients.
Our experience includes:
- Decades of litigating federal criminal tax cases and related offenses involving money laundering, currency transaction reporting, accounting fraud, and the Bank Secrecy Act;
- Representing individuals and entities in various criminal antitrust matters, to include most recently obtaining a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal at trial for the lead defendant in a cutting-edge criminal antitrust matter charging alleged anticompetitive conduct in the labor market;
- Defending clients charged with insider trading and securities fraud by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, including representing a physician at trial in a criminal insider trading case involving a clinical drug trial and representing an investment advisor at trial in a civil SEC enforcement proceeding;
- Representing clients in numerous matters alleging bribery and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), to include serving as co-trial counsel with a multinational law firm in defense of FCPA charges that resulted in conviction that was overturned on appeal, obtaining declination of prosecution for a corporate client under the DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement Policy, and resolving an individual client’s FCPA charges through a guilty plea to a lesser offense;
- Handling criminal appeals before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that raise novel issues under the Fourth and Fifth Amendment, including, most recently, a case involving the question of whether Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may conduct a warrantless forensic search of a cell phone at the border;
- Advising clients on cybercrime, ransomware and related issues;
- Representing a major health system in connection with drug diversion investigations and prosecutions;
- Defending clients facing environmental enforcement by the DOJ, EPA, and state environmental regulators, as well as in a high-profile state criminal environmental and bribery prosecution;
- Representing a broad spectrum of clients in the healthcare and defense contracting industries in in federal and state False Claims Act investigations; and
- Representing clients in all manner of financial fraud, healthcare fraud and mortgage fraud investigations.