practice areas
White Collar, investigations & Regulatory Defense
We defend individuals, directors and officers, employees, partnerships and companies against government investigations, prosecutions and regulatory actions, including those brought by the Department of Justice, the SEC and Congress. Our areas of expertise include securities and business fraud, public corruption, antitrust, national security and FCPA. We also conduct and defend internal investigations on behalf of corporate clients and advise on regulatory compliance. HSW's white collar and regulatory practice is a Ranked Department and four of our lawyers received individual rankings in White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Chambers USA 2021.
Federal Criminal and related civil actions
We defend persons and entities who are being investigated, or who have been charged, in criminal cases and in civil actions by the Department of Justice, United States Attorneys’ Offices, and state prosecutors. Representative cases include:
Trial defense of an attorney charged in the Southern District of New York with fraud relating to the failed sale of Maxim magazine.
Trial defense of a national sales manager of a poultry producer in a federal criminal antitrust prosecution, resulting in dismissal following two trials each of which ended in a hung jury.
Trial defense of a government contractor in a federal public corruption trial, resulting in acquittal on all counts.
Post-trial motion obtaining a new trial and successful appeal following a conviction of a public official in a federal criminal case.
Defense of the family of the former president of Taiwan in civil in rem forfeiture actions brought by the DOJ against properties in the United States relating to bribery allegations.
Defense of Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in civil forfeiture allegations brought by the DOJ in connection with the operation of Full Tilt Poker.
Representation of an individual defendant in the Galleon insider trading case.
Representation of a former CIA officer in an Espionage Act trial involving alleged leaks of national defense information to The New York Times.
Representation of a CPA in a successful criminal appeal, reversing convictions for embezzling from an insurance company in an alleged scheme to benefit a U.S. congressman.
Representation of a former AIG executive in criminal and SEC investigations of accounting improprieties, obtaining a non-prosecution agreement and no action by the SEC.
Representation of a former executive of Enron Corp., obtaining acquittal of all federal criminal fraud charges following a monthlong jury trial and obtaining the dismissal of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement action.
GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY INVESTIGATIONS
We defend clients in government and regulatory investigations, including investigations brought by Congress, the SEC, other federal agencies, state agencies, and self-regulatory organizations including FINRA and the NYSE. We also advise clients on regulatory compliance. Representative matters include:
The complete exoneration of a prominent financial advisor against all charges brought by the SEC following a multi-year investigation, a month long federal jury trial and all appeals.
Represented members of Congress in House Ethics Committee investigation.
Represented congressional staff member in Jack Abramoff scandal.
Successful defense of an individual charged in the Southern District of New York with fraud by the Federal Trade Commission.
On-going representation of the CEO of the New York office of an international brokerage firm charged with violations of the Investment Advisers Act in the SDNY.
Successful representation of former principals of a broker-dealer in action brought by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
On-going representation of registered representative charged with tens of millions of dollars of “outside sales” in multi-year FINRA investigation.
Successful representation of former employee of financial institution in follow-on action seeking millions of dollars in restitution in alleged fraud and defamation scheme.
Advice regarding whether the structuring of certain transactions would require our client to register as a broker-dealer or and investment adviser.
internal investigations
We frequently represent individuals and companies in internal investigations. When representing an individual employee or partner, we prepare our client to meet with company counsel or investigators, with the goal of protecting our client's career and reputation while being cooperative and maintaining a good relationship with the company. When representing companies, we conduct investigations efficiently, with an eye on the law and the business goals, and with no pre-determined outcome.
state court criminal
We defend clients against the full range of charges in New York State criminal and family courts. Recent representations include:
Successful defense of fraud charges brought by New York State Attorney General’s Office against director and officer of not-for-profit corporation.
Complete dismissal of forgery and possession of controlled substance charges against client charged by New York County District Attorney’s Office.
Dismissal without adverse findings of complaint made against client in New York County Family Court.
Defense of fraud charges brought by the New York State Controller and Bronx County District Attorney’s Office against a child healthcare company, resulting in non-criminal dispositions of charges against our client.