White Collar Defense and Government Investigations

We represent companies and individuals named as targets, subjects or witnesses in federal and state grand jury prosecutions and investigations. Our White Collar Defense and Government Investigations attorneys work to avoid criminal proceedings and have a wealth of experience working with prosecutors to avoid indictment or, where warranted and consistent with a client’s goals, to arrange a result acceptable to our clients. We work diligently with clients who are experiencing regulatory difficulties to help them come into compliance and avoid criminal proceedings. When criminal proceedings in federal or state court are unavoidable, we defend the case aggressively, move to dismiss where possible and prepare for trial to seek a favorable jury result. Our attorneys have extensive experience with jury trials and pre-trial and dispositive motions and litigation, including motions to dismiss and to suppress. If the need for separate counsel for certain individuals arise, we have strong working relationships with national counsel as well as Buffalo’s other premier criminal defense attorneys and can establish a strong joint defense team.

We regularly handle matters for businesses and individuals faced with civil investigations or subpoenas from state and federal agencies, including the New York State Attorney General’s office, individual U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, among others. Our team’s deep experience responding to civil investigations and subpoenas gives us the background to resolve clients’ legal issues efficiently and effectively, but also means that we understand acutely what is at stake for our clients.

Clients facing state and federal regulatory investigations may face financial penalties, industry suspensions and bars, or other limits on their ability to conduct business as they see fit. We have experience resolving state and federal investigations in ways that permit our clients to continue to operate their businesses with minimal repercussions from the investigation.

Clients often turn to us to respond to investigations conducted by the New York State Attorney General. These typically involve matters involving New York’s False Claims Act, consumer fraud statutes, federal debt collection statutes, and prevailing wage issues, as well as various other statutes and regulations. Depending on the circumstances and our role, our efforts often involve negotiations or litigation, as well as coordination with media and governmental relations specialists. We regularly assist clients who are mere witnesses as well as those who become targets of an investigation.

For companies of all kinds, especially those in highly regulated industries like defense industry work, banking, financial institutions and health care, effective internal investigations can be an important tool to assess a company’s compliance with relevant laws and regulations, to respond effectively and efficiently to governmental investigations or threatened investigations and, where necessary, to work with legal and regulatory authorities to resolve potentially significant legal problems.

Our attorneys have the extensive experience to conduct internal investigations for our clients. For example, members of the team regularly assist clients in addressing federal contracting concerns and we are routinely involved in extensive document reviews in multijurisdictional proceedings. The White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Team has also dealt with the regulatory fall-out of government investigations with numerous government agencies. In addition, other practice areas at the firm can assist with regulatory counseling, when necessary.

Our White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Team has broad experience in the area of government proceedings involving the False Claims Act. We also have experience addressing debarment and other ancillary consequences that may arise out of a false claims investigation or prosecution.

New York State has ramped up its own statutory framework (State Finance Law Article 13) that allows whistleblowers, local government and agencies to pursue claims against vendors and others who submit false filings. We also have represented corporate clients against such claims threatened by the New York State Attorney General.

Our experience in meeting regulatory demands for health care clients puts us in an excellent position to defend against regulatory and criminal enforcement or white collar crime. Our attorneys have defended against indictments involving Medicaid fraud, as well as other related matters.

We have investigated and litigated against employees, former employees and competitors engaged in alleged criminal activity to the detriment of our business clients. Our efforts often include the proper confidential gathering of evidence prior to the involvement of law enforcement. This allows our clients to evaluate the quality of the evidence, the alleged misconduct, and the potential risks and rewards associated with pursuing criminal or civil remedies against a wrongdoer.

Our white collar defense experience allows us to properly preserve evidence consistent with criminal procedural and constitutional protections to avoid the risk of having a harm go unaddressed.

Our attorneys are experienced in the preparation and handling of criminal appeals in both federal and state courts involving all aspects of criminal practice, including pre-trial motions, motions to suppress and Fourth Amendment issues, trial issues and sentencing issue.