White Collar, Government & Internal Investigations

Allegations of corporate wrongdoing can spawn wide-ranging and highly damaging investigations by government agencies. When you receive notification of an investigation by any government agency or regulator, you need an experienced, focused legal team that can protect your people and the company itself to the greatest extent possible.

Alston & Bird’s White Collar, Government & Internal Investigations team is composed of former federal prosecutors and government attorneys who understand Washington and have worked with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and state attorneys general around the country. Our lawyers get right to work, proactively building the case for your defense and taking a firm stand when it comes to investigators. Having tried more than 200 civil and criminal cases, and with hundreds of hours of federal and state grand jury experience, our team is a formidable presence in the courtroom. We understand, however, that our clients often benefit most from a quiet resolution that protects your reputation by keeping allegations of wrongdoing out of the media.

Internal investigations can be no less costly, and when outside auditors arrive, we’re there as well with a team that includes CPAs and lawyers with public auditing experience. We keep the focus on the issue at hand and, as much as possible, limit “mission creep” that can create huge problems for your company when it opens itself up to outside scrutiny.

We have helped public and private companies navigate the investigatory process from agencies like the Department of Justice, FDA, EPA, SEC, CBP, Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General. In matters ranging from allegations of health care, securities, tax, and mortgage fraud to RICO violations, bribery and money laundering, immigration offenses, offenses under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, theft of trade secrets, economic espionage, IP offenses, and even NAFTA violations, our lawyers provide timely, capable defense against both civil and criminal investigations and prosecution. 

Antitrust

• We won a jury verdict of acquittal for our client in a federal criminal antitrust trial brought by the Antitrust Division.
• We defended a publicly traded company in parallel Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations related to alleged accounting fraud.

Environmental

• We represented an oil and gas services company in a voluntary self-disclosure of possible criminal violations at one of its recently acquired facilities. The voluntary self-disclosure resulted in a declination of criminal charges against the company.
• We successfully defended a large chemical manufacturing company under investigation for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act for the alleged illegal disposal of hazardous waste that was shown to be exempt from regulations as a recycled product.
• We successfully defended an officer of a container ship indicted for alleged violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, obstruction of justice and conspiracy, resulting in the United States Attorney’s Office and the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice dismissing all charges against the defendant, who had been facing 15-21 months in prison.
• We successfully defended a city that had received a target letter in a Clean Water Act criminal investigation. We negotiated with DOJ and the Environmental Protection Agency resulting in no charges being filed against the city.
• We successfully defended a large textile manufacturer client in a Clean Water Act investigation involving legacy contamination at one of its manufacturing facilities. The matter resulted in no criminal charges being filed against the company or any individuals.

False Claims Act

• We represent four defendants in a qui tam False Claims Act lawsuit against the alleged sale of products to the federal government that are claimed not to be compliant with the Trade Agreements Act. Our expertise in domestic source requirements in government procurement is unmatched. Just in this area, we have authored widely circulated articles, conducted internal investigations of manufacturing clients’ supply chains to address Buy American Act and Trade Agreements Act compliance issues, conducted seminars and trainings of sales staff and senior executives, traveled with clients on customer sales visits where ARRA and Buy American restrictions were a key issue and defended False Claims Act investigations and lawsuits alleging noncompliance.
• We represent a client in an ongoing DOJ and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Inspector General investigation into fraud in the E-Rate program.
• We served as counsel to a NASDAQ company in the first reported investigation by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), General Services Administration (GSA) and DOJ into a contractor’s alleged violation of the False Claims Act based upon a purported false certification of business size.
• We successfully resolved a highly publicized defective pricing investigation by GSA and DOJ into our manufacturing client’s compliance with pricing obligations arising under the GSA Schedule.
• We counseled a publicly traded company in a federal investigation of alleged fraudulent billings in connection with federal highway projects.
• We handled investigations by the SBA Inspector General into the accuracy of small-business-size representations.
• We’ve handled and assisted in investigations by grand juries into alleged over-billing, bribery and contract fraud.
• We defended a major agribusiness in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged antitrust violations in the sale of agricultural products through a federally administered international aid program.
• We are defending a manufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of a sale of allegedly defective products to the Department of Defense.
• We defended a Chicago-based parts remanufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged overbilling for reconditioning of parts for U.S. Navy ships and in related debarment proceedings.
• We are defending a NYSE company in a state criminal investigation of an alleged procurement fraud involving a California port authority.
• We defended a mortgage subsidiary of a major national life insurance company in connection with a federal grand jury investigation of a mortgage loan fraud related to a federally guaranteed mortgage loan program.
• We represented a major wireless service provider in connection with the FCC’s auction of a spectrum and follow-on Antitrust Division investigation of alleged bid rigging in connection with the auction.
• We represented a major information technology company in an investigation of fraud against the client by a former employee related to the performance of government contracts.
• We recently advised a client on possible mandatory or voluntary disclosure issues arising out of allegations of kickbacks and improper payments by subcontractors.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Anticorruption

• We represented a large pharmaceutical company before the DOJ and SEC in an Iraq oil-for-food investigation and enforcement proceeding.
• We conducted an internal investigation in the Middle East for a global tool manufacturer.
• We conducted internal investigations in Italy and India for a Fortune 100 technology company.
• We’ve provided advice to a U.S. logistics company operating in Iraq.
• We prepared an internal anticorruption compliance program for a major medical products company with operations in over 100 countries.
• We developed an internal anticorruption compliance program and counseling on individual practices and potential enforcement issues for a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company with extensive international operations.
• We developed an anticorruption compliance program and counseling on individual compliance matters for multinational banks headquartered in Europe and Japan.
• We counseled a U.S. defense contractor in the structuring of its payments to a European agent in order to comply with applicable anticorruption laws.
• We represented a multinational technology company in connection with a voluntary disclosure under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• We counseled the U.S. subsidiary of a large European defense contractor on anticorruption issues in connection with payment of agents’ fees under a contract to supply defense products to a Latin American government.
• We’ve provided advice to a U.S.-based agricultural company on the application of anticorruption laws to payments to a foreign government hostile to the United States, in order to obtain exit visas for certain of its employees under persecution by that government.

Government Contracting

• The lawyer for a criminal defendant, who was charged with fraud and misrepresentations to government investigators in the pursuit of a number of government contracts in New York City, hired Jeff Belkin as a testifying expert on government contract issues. Mr. Belkin testified at the criminal trial and was qualified by the U.S. District Judge as an expert in the field of government contracts, without objection by the prosecution, particularly on the areas of qualifications for Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) status. While the defendant was convicted of all counts, both the prosecution and the defense quoted Mr. Belkin’s expert testimony to make their closing statements.
• Recently, we worked with our white collar and immigration experts in responding to the visit by ICE inspectors to our client’s construction project, and addressed the E-Verify compliance issues arising from that inspection both with ICE and with the government customer agency.
• We currently represent four defendants in a qui tam False Claims Act lawsuit alleging sales of products to the federal government that are claimed not to be compliant with the Trade Agreements Act. Our expertise in domestic source requirements in government procurement is unmatched. Just in this area, we have authored widely circulated articles, conducted internal investigations of manufacturing clients’ supply chain to address Buy American Act and Trade Agreements Act compliance issues, conducted seminars and trainings of sales staff and senior executives, traveled with clients on customer sales visits where American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Buy American restrictions were a key issue, and defended False Claims Act investigations and lawsuits alleging noncompliance.
• We currently represent the client in an ongoing DOJ and Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Inspector General investigation into fraud in the E-Rate program.
• We served as counsel to a NASDAQ company in the first reported investigation by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), General Services Administration (GSA) and DOJ into a contractor’s alleged violation of the False Claims Act based upon a purported false certification of business size.
• We successfully resolved a highly publicized defective pricing investigation by GSA and DOJ into our manufacturing client’s compliance with pricing obligations arising under the GSA Schedule.
• We counseled a publicly traded company in a federal investigation of alleged fraudulent billings in connection with federal highway projects.
• We handled investigations by the SBA Inspector General into the accuracy of small business size representations.
• We have handled and assisted in investigations by grand juries into alleged over-billing, bribery and contract fraud.
• We defended a major agribusiness in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged antitrust violations in the sale of agricultural products through a federally administered international aid program.
• We are defending a manufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of a sale of allegedly defective products to Department of Defense.
• We defended a Chicago-based parts remanufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged overbilling for reconditioning of parts for U.S. Navy ships and in related debarment proceedings.
• We are defending a NYSE company in a state criminal investigation of an alleged procurement fraud involving a California port authority.
• We defended a mortgage subsidiary of a major national life insurance company in connection with a federal grand jury investigation of a mortgage loan fraud related to a federally guaranteed mortgage loan program.
• We represented a major wireless service provider in connection with the FCC’s auction of a spectrum and follow-on Antitrust Division investigation of alleged bid rigging in connection with the auction.
• We represent a major information technology company in an investigation of fraud against the client by a former employee related to the performance of government contracts.
• We recently advised a client on possible mandatory or voluntary disclosure issues arising out of allegations of kickbacks and improper payments by subcontractors.

Government Investigations & Securities and Commodities

• We represent a bulge-bracket, multinational financial services company in numerous internal investigations, regulatory inquiries and related civil litigation concerning potential issues arising under the federal securities laws and SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and FINRA regulations, as well as numerous other state and federal laws and regulations.
• We represent a financial services company in parallel investigations by federal and state regulators relating to its residential mortgage-backed securitization practices.
• We represent a worldwide financial services provider in an internal investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by an employee who attempted to broker deals with the Iranian government.
• We’ve represented investment companies, broker-dealers, funds and numerous individuals in several high-profile insider trading investigations and prosecutions by the SEC, FINRA, DOJ and foreign regulators, including those stemming from the high-profile “expert networking” investigation.
• We represented a senior executive in global parallel investigations by DOJ, the CFTC, the FSA and other regulators concerning the alleged manipulation of interbank lending rates.
• We represented the general counsel of a NYSE-listed company in a parallel investigation by the SEC relating to a financial restatement issued by the company.
• We represented a multinational financial services company in a forensic investigation concerning allegations that the company’s former employee misappropriated trade secrets for proprietary trading software.
• We’ve represented companies and individuals in investigations by DOJ, the SEC, FINRA and state securities regulators concerning their participation in purported market manipulations, investment schemes and trading inquiries, including the recent wave of “layering” investigations.
• We represented a financial services company in an investigation concerning federal and state pay-to-play laws.
• We represented a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization in its examination by the SEC.
• We’ve assisted clients in designing and implementing codes of ethics, disclosure policies, insider trading policies and training programs, whistleblower protections and audit committee policies pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd Frank Acts.