Daniel Grooms

Danny is a veteran federal prosecutor with more than 15 years of bench and first-chair trial experience, having served in leadership at virtually every level of the US Department of Justice. Most recently Danny served as chief of the criminal division at the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, one of the most elite US attorney’s offices in the country, where he was overseeing all criminal investigations and 140 assistant US attorneys. Danny was previously also chief of the office’s national security and international crime unit, as well as its narcotics unit. He has served in multiple senior roles at the Department of Justice, including as senior counselor to the assistant attorney general of the national security division and as an associate deputy attorney general, where he reported directly to the deputy attorney general, and was responsible for a portfolio including all national security, drug and firearms policy and enforcement nationwide.

Danny has strategic insight and deep experience in national security and international law, including cybercrime, sanctions and export enforcement, the Espionage Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), as well as corporate and international anti-corruption enforcement, including FCPA, the Bank Secrecy Act, money laundering, opioid pharmaceutical diversion, RICO and multi-jurisdictional investigations. His extensive knowledge in these areas allows him to assist clients in complex and high-stakes white collar matters and government and internal investigations around the world. Danny began his career in the Department of Justice in 2003 entering the tax division through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, where he investigated and prosecuted cases involving conspiracy, bribery, fraud and other tax and related financial crimes.

Danny applies his broad understanding and holistic approach when managing internal and government investigations and inquiries involving both state and federal agencies, to ensure the rights of his clients are represented at every stage, from inquiry to hearings and all the way through trial. His clients range from high-profile individuals, public and private company executives and individuals involved in highly-publicized disputes and incidents, to domestic and foreign companies of all sizes.

Throughout his career, Danny has investigated, prosecuted and overseen some of the Department of Justice’s most significant cases in the following areas:

• White Collar criminal investigations involving both individuals and corporations
• Anti-corruption and financial investigations involving FCPA, money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act
• Cybercrime, including state-sponsored economic espionage and trade secret theft
• Economic sanctions, counterproliferation and arms trafficking, as well as export controls
• Espionage, classified information disclosures and foreign agent and foreign influence campaigns
• Narcotics, including opioid diversion investigations under the Controlled Substances Act
• Violent and organized crime, including RICO

Notably, in his career at the Department of Justice, Danny has worked on and overseen the following cases:

• United States v. Elena Khusyaynova – prosecution of Russian national associated with the Internet Research Agency for interfering in the U.S political system
• Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) – $850 million FCPA investigation and non-prosecution agreement
• Netcracker Technology Corp. – export control investigation resulting in non-prosecution and security agreement
• McKesson Corporation – Controlled Substances Act pharmaceutical diversion investigation resulting in $150 million civil settlement agreement
• United States v. Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. – guilty plea and $232 million penalty for Iranian and other sanctions violations
• United States v. Edward Snowden – prosecution of former government contractor for violations of the Espionage Act
• United States v. Wang Dong, et al. – prosecution of Chinese military officers for computer hacking and economic espionage involving theft of trade secrets from US energy and other businesses
• United States v. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – prosecution and conviction of one of the men responsible for 2013 Boston Marathon bombing
• Multiple prosecutions involving the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficking organization, including United States v. Damaso Lopez Nunez, culminating in the 2019 conviction of Chapo Guzman
• United States v. Syed Fai – Virginia man prosecuted and sentenced to 24 months in prison for conspiracy and tax violations involving secretly taking millions of dollars from the Pakistan government to fund lobbying efforts in the US related to Kashmir

In addition to his work at the DOJ, Danny has also represented clients in the following matters and industries:

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

• Representing a major software company with regard to multiple allegations of FCPA violations
• Providing training for employees of an augmented reality software company on FCPA compliance
• Representing an oil and gas supply chain services company in a criminal investigation of violations of the FCPA in connection with a Latin American state-owned oil enterprise

Technology Industry

• Representing a prominent social media company with regard to policies concerning terrorism and violent extremist content on the platform
• Representing a technology company in litigation against an organization that developed and sold an exploit for a popular communications application
• Representing a company that developed computer network defense and exploitation tools in relation to multiple criminal and related investigations
• Representing several leading social media companies in congressional investigations of company policies concerning the prevention of child exploitation and abuse on their platforms
• Representing a company supplying internet-connected child care products in a software security and vulnerability investigation
• Representing an augmented reality hardware developer in litigation against a former employee for using confidential information to establish a competitor business in a foreign country
• Advising a data analytics and marketing company in connection with possible improper or illegal use of its technology and data by a foreign customer
• Representing a technology company in a contemplated constitutional challenge to a government subpoena in a criminal investigation
• Regularly advising internet and cloud computing service providers with regard to Stored Communications Act orders seeking customer information and content

Health Care and Pharmaceutical Industry

• Representing a pharmaceutical manufacturer seeking restitution as a result of prosecutions of multiple officers and directors for securities and related fraud
• Counseling a pharmaceutical manufacturer in relation to compliance with Controlled Substances Act statutory and regulatory requirements
• Representing a pharmaceutical manufacturer that was a victim of clinical trial fraud in a criminal investigation by the DOJ
• Advising a Major League Baseball organization on policies and training with regard to controlled substance abuse detection and reporting
• Representing the chief executive officer of a medical device company in a criminal fraud investigation by the DOJ
• Representing a company providing vaping supplies in connection with the FDA investigation of E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)
• Representing the creditors’ committee in bankruptcy litigation in connection with claims of health care and other fraud

Individual Criminal and Related Matters

• Representing a former real estate developer in a criminal prosecution in the Southern District of New York for honest services fraud and related offenses
• Counseling a government contractor in connection with the prosecution of a former employee for disclosure of classified information
• Advising an international agricultural company in connection with the criminal prosecution of the original owner of a significant patent being considered for purchase

Pro Bono

• Pro bono representation of a national amateur sports foundation in connection with a criminal financial fraud investigation conducted by the DOJ
• Pro bono representation of a nonprofit in conducting an investigation of allegations of financial fraud

Prior to his legal career, Danny attended Harvard Law School where he received a Heyman Fellowship. After his first year of law school he had an internship at the US attorney’s office in Atlanta, Georgia.

Publications

• Ninth Circuit Restricts Immunity for Filtering Objectionable Content, Cooley cyber/data/privacy insights, October 18, 2019