White Collar Crime – Are You At Risk?
White collar crime was first introduced into the language in 1939 in a presentation by Edwin Sutherland to the American Sociological Society; and was defined “…as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”
Increased government scrutiny and severe criminal and civil penalties are realities faced by contemporary corporations and their officers, directors and employees. Few areas of the law require more skills across a broad spectrum of disciplines than the representation of clients in federal and state criminal and regulatory enforcement matters. Securing a nationally recognized criminal defense lawyer who has the civil, criminal and regulatory expertise required to achieve successful outcomes at trial, but often more importantly, before charges are filed and investigations become public is imperative.
A white collar crime criminal defense attorney can litigate indicted cases and provide representation in grand jury proceedings and before regulatory agencies, such as the SEC and EPA. A skilled and experienced criminal defense lawyer combines well-honed courtroom skills and expertise in defense of corporations and individuals with sophisticated knowledge in many areas of substantive law, including:
• securities, revenue recognition and public accounting fraud
• insider-trading, Title 15 and CFR securities non-compliance, and Sarbanes-Oxley issues
• mail, wire, tax-related and computer fraud
• trade-secret theft
• environmental and health and safety violations
• antitrust violations
• import-export and money laundering violations
A white collar crime criminal defense lawyer will regularly draw on the expertise of other practice areas in their firm, including Environmental Law, for example, examining environmental compliance counseling, regulatory representation and litigation, including defense of civil and criminal environmental enforcement actions. Likewise, a criminal defense attorney might need to refer to Insurance and Employment Law to litigate on D&O insurance, indemnity, and employment issues facing clients.
A white collar crime criminal defense lawyer will have experience in counseling and representing corporations and individuals in a full spectrum of services and in a broad range of industries and professions, including internal corporation investigations and in defense of criminal and regulatory enforcement actions, In addition, a white collar crime criminal defense attorney will regularly counsel corporate clients concerning compliance programs mandated by state and federal law, and help clients navigate the muddy waters created by parallel civil and criminal proceedings.
An experienced white collar crime criminal defense lawyer will also recognize the importance of negotiations during the investigation, before decisions are made on whether to file criminal or civil-enforcement charges. Their familiarity with the prosecutors’ offices is critical to exploring every avenue possible to avoid such charges. For many clients, the mere filing of highly publicized charges can be devastating. If charges are unavoidable, a white collar criminal defense lawyer should have the experience it takes to either negotiate an appropriate resolution or take the case to trial.
The complexities involved in developing a strategy or achieving a resolution in criminal matters increases exponentially when clients are faced with parallel civil or administrative proceedings. For example, clients in securities fraud cases are often faced with a three-tiered threat:
• filing of civil class actions
• SEC investigations leading to civil enforcement cases; and
• grand jury investigations leading to criminal charges.
An experienced white collar crime criminal defense lawyer will have extensive expertise in the early assessment of a client’s civil, administrative and criminal exposure and in developing a coordinated defense to all three of these proceedings. Knowing from experience that the early strategies developed in response to one proceeding can have serious and unalterable repercussions on the direction and ultimate outcome of the parallel investigations and filings.
Given the complexities and extent to which the laws can affect your business and well-being, does your lack of knowledge about white collar crime cause you to be at risk?
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