Practices

White Collar Defense and Investigations

Why Cooley

Clients ranging from Fortune 500 and emerging growth companies, financial institutions, boards of directors, universities, corporate executives and high-net worth individuals turn to us to guide them through some of the most sensitive legal issues they face.

We navigate clients through all phases of criminal and regulatory enforcement proceedings. We investigate allegations of misconduct, often in response to a government inquiry, a whistleblower complaint or an internal report. We regularly conduct internal investigations for public and private companies, NGOs, portfolio companies of venture capital and private equity firms, and audit and special committees. Our broad client portfolio comprises companies who operate across the industrial spectrum including in the technology, life sciences, finance, energy and consumer goods sectors. As effective legal strategists, our team often persuades the government not to pursue charges, avoiding public disclosure entirely and protecting their reputation. In other cases, we negotiate resolutions for our clients, enabling them to mitigate and control future risk. When necessary, we stand ready to defend clients in court and at trial, with a track record that includes high-profile acquittals in criminal cases and jury trial victories against the SEC.

Our white collar practitioners are strategically placed in key financial sectors worldwide. In the UK, our members are well-established defense and regulatory practitioners with close connections to the UK government and its regulatory bodies. The team is particularly adept at handling cross-border investigations and prosecutions, and often advises public and private companies and individuals on investigations and litigation involving the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Conduct Authority, and overseas governments and regulators.

Beyond our criminal and regulatory defense practice, our team routinely reviews and crafts compliance programs and policies related to foreign bribery, insider trading, securities disclosure, export controls and trade sanctions, and cybersecurity, among other areas. Our full-service platform conducts due diligence for mergers, acquisitions and other strategic transactions, performs global risk assessments to identify and address potential risk areas, and prepares and conduct compliance trainings.

Areas of Practice 

  • Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws
  • Bank fraud
  • Cybersecurity and data breaches
  • Environmental crimes
  • Export controls and sanctions
  • False Claims Act/Qui Tam
  • Financial fraud
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws
  • Misconduct at universities and non-profit institutions
  • Price-fixing
  • Public corruption
  • Securities law violations, including accounting fraud, disclosure issues, insider trading and regulations involving broker-dealers and investment advisers
  • Tax fraud
  • Theft of intellectual property

Representative Matters 

  • Representation of entities and individuals in numerous high-profile cases, including significant defense representations in the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation; the DOJ/SEC Theranos investigation; the VW/Audi emissions investigation; the DOJ Takata airbag investigation; the DOJ NCAA bribery investigation; the DOJ FIFA investigation; the UK Grenfell Tower tragedy; Malaysia 1MDB; New York state bribery prosecutions; Roger Clemens; Deepwater Horizon; and many others
  • High-stakes internal investigations, including investigations for a major manufacturer into allegations of testing fraud; a major US real estate investment trust involving corruption allegations in India; a major defense contractor into kickback and bribery allegations; the audit committee of a major retailer into accounting fraud; numerous major US technology companies into allegations of management improprieties and securities fraud; and many others
  • Significant bank and financial fraud investigations and prosecutions, including a multi-year international money laundering investigation involving Swiss banks, the UK SFO Standard Bank investigation and representation of banks, boards and executives in investigations by the DOJ, SEC, SFO and FCA

Financial Services Investigation 

  • Represented a publicly traded bank in an SEC investigation over loan portfolio underwriting and losses, resulting in no action
  • Conducted an internal investigation for the audit committee of a publicly held bank holding company into allegations of management impropriety and advised the committee with respect to remedial actions and reporting the results
  • Represented a BSA/AML officer and a member of the board of directors of a multinational bank in an investigation by the DOJ and a US attorney’s office of the bank’s anti-money laundering program
  • Advised a former head of compliance at a major UK bank in relation to an FCA investigation
  • Advised senior executives of a major global bank in relation to an SFO investigation
  • Significant representation in the UK SFO Standard Bank investigation
  • Represented senior employees of a major global bank in a DOJ investigation into international banking practices
  • Represented a senior employee of a global bank in a DOJ trade sanctions investigation
  • Represented a senior bank employee in the SEC State Street Bank and Trust investigation
  • Represented senior individuals in the Barclays Qatar case
  • Advised an accountancy firm on its position regarding an SFO investigation of bribery overseas
  • Represented a publicly traded financial services company in an SEC investigation and litigated enforcement action arising from alleged disclosure fraud

FCPA

  • Conducted an internal investigation and represented a manufacturer in SEC and DOJ investigations arising from a self-report of potential FCPA violations in China, resulting in a rare SEC non-prosecution agreement and public DOJ declination
  • Represented a multinational pharmaceutical company in connection with SEC and DOJ investigations into gifts and payments to Chinese government officials, resulting in an SEC settlement and DOJ declination
  • Conducted an internal investigation for a Fortune 100 construction company and represented it in SEC and DOJ investigations into issues arising from projects in Africa, resulting in SEC and DOJ declinations
  • Represented a defendant in the DOJ FIFA bribery case
  • Represented the audit committee of a global networking and communications company in an investigation of whistleblower allegations of bribery in Russia and other countries, resulting in SEC and DOJ declinations
  • Represented the defendant in the Kazakh Oil case, previously the largest FCPA prosecution brought by DOJ against an individual
  • Significant representations in the DOJ Guinea iron mining investigation and the DOJ Petrobras investigation
  • Represented a major defense contractor in DOJ and SEC investigations into alleged FCPA violations in Thailand and the Czech Republic, resulting in no action by either agency
  • Represented a major hardware and software company in Mexico in the SEC and DOJ investigations of alleged FCPA violations, resulting in resolutions with both agencies
  • Represented a communications company in an investigation of alleged FCPA violations in China and Indonesia, resulting in an SEC settlement and no DOJ action

Government Investigations

  • Conducted an internal investigation in Europe and the US for a major metals manufacturer into allegations of testing fraud, advised the company with respect to reporting the results and represented the company in dealing with international law enforcement agencies
  • Conducted an internal corruption investigation in India for a major American real estate investment trust and advised the client with respect to reporting the results and future compliance
  • Represented a major witness in a Senate tax shelter investigation.
  • Assisted a technology client in responding to a wide-ranging inquiry from the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
  • Conducted an internal investigation for a major, publicly held technology defense contractor into kickback and bribery allegations and represented the company in dealing with the DOJ and other enforcement agencies
  • Conducted an internal accounting investigation for the audit committee of a large, publicly held retailer, advised the committee with respect to reporting the results and represented the committee in dealing with the DOJ
  • Conducted an investigation for a major American technology company into allegations of management improprieties and advised the company concerning corporate management issues
  • Conducted an internal investigation for an American plane leasing company involving allegations of corruption in Asia and advised the company with respect to remedial actions and reporting the results
  • Conducted an investigation of a large data breach and the failure to timely disclose that breach, on behalf of a special committee of independent directors of a global technology firm, and advised the committee with respect to reporting the findings to the DOJ

Criminal Antitrust

  • Significant representation in the DOJ lithium battery price-fixing investigation
  • Significant representations in the DOJ TFT-LCD industry price-fixing investigation and trial
  • Significant representation in the DOJ carbon electrodes price-fixing investigation and trial

Securities Fraud

  • Represented a major technology company in a securities fraud investigation conducted by the SEC and the SDNY US attorney’s office, resulting in a declination by both the SEC and SDNY
  • Significant representation in the DOJ/SEC Theranos investigation
  • Significant representation in the DOJ McAffee backdating investigation and trial
  • Significant representation in the DOJ/SEC Research in Motion options backdating investigation
  • Significant representation in the DOJ Refco investigation and criminal trial
  • Significant representation in the DOJ/SEC Time Warner/AOL investigation
  • Significant representation in the DOJ Enron/Arthur Andersen investigation
  • Significant representation in the DOJ Peregrine/Arthur Andersen investigation and trial