Businesses in a wide range of industries are under increased scrutiny and are subject to constantly evolving rules and restrictions. Clients turn to Armstrong Teasdale’s White-Collar Criminal Defense and Government Investigations lawyers when they find themselves the target of complex criminal and civil investigations brought by outside agencies or organizations.
We have broad experience representing clients, including companies and individuals, such as C-suite executives, municipal officials, government contractors, physicians and others, in the investigation and defense of high-profile, often contentious cases at both the state and federal levels. This includes significant experience handling government subpoenas, as well as jury trial experience in matters involving price fixing and other antitrust charges, health care, bank and securities fraud including money laundering, market manipulation, espionage, commercial lending, regulatory and criminal gambling violations, and tax evasion. In addition, our lawyers have assisted clients with matters involving violations of the Medicare/Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute; environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA); criminal bribery and extortion charges; the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO); immigration and trade practice violations; Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Practices (UDAPP); federal False Claims Act (FCA) and qui tam cases; and fraud investigations in the commercial lending, pharmaceutical, mining, education and aeronautics industries, to name a few. We provide counsel to clients regarding compliance with and possible violations of U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and international anti-corruption conventions, including the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the U.N. Convention Against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
Our wide range of experience means we can address and defend what often are multifaceted criminal, civil and/or regulatory matters. We represent clients in high-profile parallel suits that can arise during criminal investigations involving civil fraud, securities matters, insider trading and enforcement actions, including those prosecuted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Because our skilled team includes a former SEC enforcement lawyer, state securities officials and members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office across jurisdictions, we have a unique perspective and approach client matters with a rare familiarity.
Our white-collar criminal defense and government investigations lawyers, including former federal prosecutors, have also had significant success in persuading regulators to decline pursuing charges. We work closely with clients and prosecutors to resolve matters before charges are filed, which helps clients avoid criminal prosecution and the damaging consequences that follow.
In recent years especially, our lawyers have seen the number of qui tam cases brought under the federal FCA against corporate defendants more than double. The FCA, which allows private whistleblowers to sue companies on behalf of the government, contains drastic penalties resulting in annual total settlements and judgments in the billions of dollars. Engaging counsel to conduct an internal investigation before a disgruntled employee becomes a whistleblower may allow the company to entirely avoid a qui tam action.