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Under new Justice Department guidance, corporate defendants have a crucial, time-sensitive window to implement remedial changes independently to potentially avoid the imposition of a government-required monitor to oversee that process.
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There are few things as potentially disruptive as the specter of a government investigation or criminal prosecution. Whether facing an informal inquiry or formal prosecution, businesses and individuals require counsel with deep experience in all phases of the criminal process. Cozen O’Connor’s attorneys are leaders in the criminal defense bar and offer aggressive representation of our clients to resolve their most difficult legal problems.
Cozen O’Connor has carefully assembled a team of attorneys with decades of experience on both the prosecutorial and defense sides. Having this full understanding both of how cases are built and how cases are won is critical to providing clients with sound advice. Our attorneys’ broad perspective enables us to identify the right solution quickly.
We represent individuals, public and private companies, corporate boards, special committees, and directors and officers in investigations and enforcement proceedings of all varieties. We handle inquiries initiated by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, state attorneys general, district attorneys, and executive agency inspectors general. We frequently conduct internal investigations both before and after government action, implement corporate compliance programs to prevent and detect wrongdoing, and defend clients against criminal charges.
Our corporate clients do not abide the disruption of an internal investigation simply out of academic curiosity. That is why Cozen O’Connor begins every investigation with an eye toward the end goal: advice that is thorough and practical. We provide clients with a comprehensive understanding of their potential liabilities as well as a clear strategy for how to move an inquiry toward an acceptable conclusion. Whether our legal analysis reveals the need to dismiss rogue actors, report mistakes, improve compliance, or take other remedial measures, our investigations are informed by an intimate familiarity with our clients’ businesses and a commitment to providing useful, jargon-free advice.
It is with good reason that clients often look to former prosecutors to conduct sensitive internal investigations. Cozen O’Connor’s team includes top federal and state prosecutors who have served as assistant U.S. attorney or led major crimes task forces. This prosecutorial background is a distinct advantage when conducting complex investigations, making factual findings, and judging the credibility of witnesses. Moreover, insights gained through prior government service and strong professional relationships with current government officials enhance our ability to narrow the scope of investigations and make arguments that are persuasive to regulators.
On the criminal defense side, we have had tremendous success trying difficult cases on behalf of individuals. This means that when trial proves unavoidable, our seasoned attorneys are fully prepared to dismantle the case against our client in court. It also means that our clients are able to make informed strategic calculations before trial, because we can reliably predict how certain facts and arguments are likely to be perceived. Cozen O’Connor’s respected criminal defense practitioners are known for their candor and take seriously their duty to help clients make well-reasoned decisions under extreme emotional distress.
Indeed, part of what differentiates Cozen O’Connor’s criminal defense practice is our attention to the emotional component of each case. We often represent clients who have unexpectedly found themselves in the completely unfamiliar world of the criminal justice system and are facing the alarming possibility of incarceration. We treat our clients with the care we would want for a family member in the same situation and are available around the clock to assure our clients that they do not carry the burden alone.
SERVICES
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Direct high-level internal investigations into potential misconduct, either before or after the initiation of a government inquiry
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Represent clients in criminal investigations and enforcement proceedings initiated by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, state attorneys general, district attorneys, and executive agency inspectors general
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Defend clients against criminal allegations, including those involving securities and commodities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud, False Claims Act, qui tam whistleblowers, criminal antitrust claims, tax fraud, procurement fraud, bank fraud and Bank Secrecy Act, embezzlement, money laundering, political corruption, online misconduct, and other felonious acts
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Provide counsel regarding federal export control regulations and enforcement proceedings by the departments of state and commerce
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Implement or update corporate compliance programs, establish internal checks and balances, and conduct practical training for executives and employees
CLIENTS
We represent individuals, public and private companies, corporate boards, special committees, and directors and officers in a wide variety of industries, including:
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Shipping and transportation
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Health care
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Generic pharmaceuticals
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Online gaming
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Aviation
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Automotive
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Energy and utilities
TEAM
Our White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Group is made up of litigators who have collectively first-chaired hundreds of trials as prosecutors, public defenders, and corporate defense attorneys. The team includes former assistant U.S. attorneys, Trial Attorneys, assistant district attorneys, heads of major crimes task forces, and a federal public defender, as well as fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Chambers & Partners-ranked white-collar lawyers, and recipients of prestigious criminal defense awards. Our practice has been named among one of the top 100 cross-border investigations practices in the world by Global Investigation Review for the past two years. The team has impressive appellate credentials and includes several former federal clerks and a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk.
In addition to the risks of government-imposed punishment, we are keenly aware that our clients may face the additional risk of collateral damage to brand and reputation. Our attorneys work closely with in-house or external public relations professionals to defend clients against negative media coverage, craft effective counter-messaging, and coordinate public and legal strategies. The firm’s Washington, D.C.-based bipartisan Public Strategies Group also has extensive crisis management experience and is available to provide government assistance as necessary. Our goal is to ensure that clients emerge from difficulty unharmed.
October 17, 2018
Under new Justice Department guidance, corporate defendants have a crucial, time-sensitive window to implement remedial changes independently to potentially avoid the imposition of a government-required monitor to oversee that process.
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October 05, 2018
A quarterly newsletter reviewing Third Circuit opinions impacting white collar criminal lawyers.
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September 19, 2018
Martin Bloor and Rachel Collins Clarke discuss the increased frequency of electronic device searches at airports, in an article published in the White Collar Crime Committee Newsletter of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section.
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August 27, 2018
Martin Bloor, Linda Regis Hallinan, Matthew Kinskey, and Dina Moussa discuss the Second Circuit's decision in United States v. Hoskins.
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July 09, 2018
A quarterly newsletter reviewing Third Circuit opinions impacting white collar criminal lawyers.
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June 06, 2018
Dick Devine, of counsel in Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice, offers his insights into the ongoing legislative debates around capital punishment in Illinois.
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May 10, 2018
Martin S. Bloor and Yehudah Gordon discuss the new policy, officially titled “Policy on Coordination of Corporate Resolution Penalties,” that will be added as a new section to the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual.
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May 07, 2018
Stephen Miller, vice chair of the firm's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group and Isaac Binkovitz, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, co-authored, "US Supreme Court Considers Appropriate Deference to Foreign Law," for The Legal Intelligencer.
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April 25, 2018
Nicole Sprinzen and Thomas Ingalls discuss recent Congressional legislation that provides a procedure for U.S. law enforcement to obtain foreign-located communications data from U.S. service providers, ending a long-running dispute concerning the extraterritorial reach of the Stored Communications Act.
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April 13, 2018
Stephen Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, and Pamela Dorian, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, co-authored, in The Legal Intelligencer "Supreme Court Considers State Ban on Political Apparel in Polling Place."
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April 12, 2018
A quarterly newsletter reviewing Third Circuit opinions impacting white collar criminal lawyers.
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April 11, 2018
Dick Devine, of counsel, in Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice, shared in Crain's Chicago Business his concerns over the recent proposal to shake up the organizational structure of the Chicago Police Department.
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April 03, 2018
Stephen Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, and Pamela Dorian, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, co-authored, in The Legal Intelligencer "Is a Warrant Necessary to Search a Vehicle Parked Near a Person's Home?"
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March 02, 2018
Nicole Sprinzen and Thomas Ingalls discuss what took place during oral arguments before the Supreme Court, how a bill in Congress may affect the Justices' ruling, and what impact the decision will have on the obligations of electronic service providers.
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February 12, 2018
Thomas M. O’Rourke and Nicole Sprinzen discuss how the budget deal affects the cannabis industry.
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February 07, 2018
Stephen Miller and Rachel Collins Clarke, members of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice, co-authored in The Legal Intelligencer, “Supreme Court Tackles Fourth Amendment Case Involving Cellphone Privacy."
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January 26, 2018
Randy Seybold and Biz Van Gelder discuss the DOJs January 10 and January 25 memos and what they mean for FCA qui tam defendants.
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January 11, 2018
Stephen Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice, and Leigh Ann Benson, associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, co-authored, in The Legal Intelligencer "Masterpiece Cakeshop v. CCR: A Difficult Balance for Justices."
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December 04, 2017
Stephen A. Miller, vice chair of the firm's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, and Haryle Kaldis, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, co-authored for The Legal Intelligencer, "Supreme Court Examines Intersection of Class Waivers and Employees’ Rights".
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November 09, 2017
Stephen A. Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, and Leigh Ann Benson, associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation department, co-authored in Yahoo!, "NJ's Supreme Court Gamble: Garden State Takes on PASPA."
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October 16, 2017
Nicole Sprinzen and Thomas Ingalls discuss the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari and a forthcoming decision on the specific question of whether law enforcement authorities can use the SCA to obtain a third party’s foreign-stored electronic information under the SCA’s warrant provision.
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October 10, 2017
Stephen Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, and William Lesser, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation department, co-authored for The Legal Intelligencer, "US Supreme Court Confronts Partisan Gerrymandering."
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May 04, 2017
Stephen Miller, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, and William Lesser, of the Commercial Litigation department, discuss internet restrictions on registered sex offenders in The Legal Intelligencer.
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April 04, 2017
Stephen Miller and Matthew Coin, both of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discuss the U.S. Supreme Court in The Legal Intelligencer.
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February 22, 2017
Dick Devine, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the Chicago Police Department in Crain's Chicago Business.
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January 13, 2017
Bruce Maffeo, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the second circuit revisiting limits on Proffer agreements in the New York Law Journal.
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December 19, 2016
Barbara Van Gelder and Nicole Sprinzen discuss recently released white papers from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Law360.
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November 09, 2016
Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice, and Nicholas Karwacki, of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation department, discuss insider trading in The Legal Intelligencer.
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August 31, 2016
Nicole H. Sprinzen discusses a proposed rule by FinCEN that seeks to close a perceived “gap” in regulations intended to facilitate the government’s efforts to curb money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
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August 03, 2016
Dick Devine, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses keeping a check on police acts in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
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June 28, 2016
Nicole H. Sprinzen and Emily Gurskis discuss the U.S. Supreme Court reversal and remand of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell on honest services fraud charges and charges that Governor McDonnell unlawfully obtained property under color of official right.
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April 04, 2016
Dick Devine, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the ongoing news about the new Chicago Police Superintendent.
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February 24, 2016
Dick Devine, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice, discusses police involved shootings in the Chicago Sun-Times.
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January 29, 2016
Dick Devine, of counsel in Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations, authors opinion column in Chicago Sun-Times sharing his ongoing concerns over the vetting process – as the city looks to install a new Police Superintendent in the wake of recently exposed enforcement concerns.
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January 11, 2016
Stephen Miller, vice chair of the firm's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, and Pamela Dorian, an associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Practice, co-authored, "US Supreme Court Addresses 'Attenuating' Circumstances."
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October 15, 2015
Martin Bloor, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, discusses how the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are focusing on targeting individuals who are responsible for corporate wrongdoing in Insights: The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor.
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August 03, 2015
Barry Boss, Stephen Miller, and Rebecca Brodey discuss the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s latest investigation – airline capacity restrictions.
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May 05, 2015
Matthew Glazer and Arthur Fritzinger explain that even the most routine corporate investigation has the potential to develop into a multidefendant case, and it may be important for parties to coordinate their strategies from the beginning through joint-defense agreements.
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March 04, 2015
In an article titled “Courts Clarify Scope of Privilege for Internal Corporate Investigations,” Thomas Wilkinson and Tamar Wise, members of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discuss a wave of recent cases which have clarified the scope of the attorney-client and work-product privileges in the context of internal corporate investigations.
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February 09, 2015
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the crime-fraud exception’s reach in the context of a case in which the Third Circuit affirmed a decision requiring an attorney to testify in a grand jury investigation into his former client’s potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
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November 14, 2014
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to decline to review a Third Circuit ruling finding that the privilege typically recognized for attorney-client communications is broken where a client indicates that he will undertake potentially unlawful action after being advised about the contours of the law.
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November 09, 2014
In an article titled “Supreme Court Takes on Knowledge Standard in Securities Suits,” Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, and Kaitlin DiNapoli, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss Omnicare v. Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund, in which shareholders invoked the securities laws to sue Omnicare for proclaiming in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement that its contracts with drug companies were lawful. This term, the U.S. Supreme Court will explore the pleading standard necessary to proceed on such a securities claim: May the plaintiffs merely allege that such a statement was objectively wrong, or must the plaintiffs also allege that the speaker did not believe that the statement was true?
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November 06, 2014
In an article titled “Supreme Court Addresses Treatment of Incriminating Evidence,” Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, and Michael O’Donnell, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss two cases that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide in the coming months relating to incriminating evidence – one concerns finding it, and the other concerns destroying it.
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October 22, 2014
In an article published in The Legal Intelligencer, Hayes Hunt, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department, and Arthur Fritzinger, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the importance of having clear policies in place to quickly root out potential wrongdoing and thoroughly investigate issues that arise within the organization. Employee wrongdoing may be unavoidable within a large organization, but every company has the ability to limit its impact.
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September 17, 2014
In an article published in the Legal Intelligencer, Hayes Hunt, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, and Jillian Thornton, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the steps companies should take if compromising information on an employee is stolen and posted online.
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August 15, 2014
In an article published in Today's General Counsel, Stephen Miller, a member of the Commercial Litigation Department, and Brian Kint, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the dispute involving the privileged status of documents created during internal code of business conduct (COBC) investigations conducted by Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. The case serves as a reminder that reasonable jurists can evaluate privilege issues differently and gives examples of how companies can strengthen any assertion of privilege over internal investigation materials.
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June 01, 2014
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the case of Asadi v. GE Energy (USA) L.L.C.
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May 01, 2014
In an article published in The Legal Intelligencer, Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Departments, and Kristy Miller, an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department, discuss the difficult task of reconciling traditional notions of privacy with evolving species of technology as it relates to two recent cases that address what level of privacy one can expect in data stored on a cellphone.
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April 16, 2014
In an article titled "When Is It Appropriate to Prosecute a 'Faceless' Corporation?" Hayes Hunt and Thomas O'Rourke, members of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the September 9, 2010 natural gas explosion in San Bruno, CA and the 12-count indictment charging PG&E with violations of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act.
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April 03, 2014
In an article titled “U.S. Supreme Court Tackles Questions of Criminal Intent,” Stephen Miller and Jordan Fox, members of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the element of criminal intent. “Guilty knowledge” is often the hardest element for the government to prove in a criminal prosecution. For that reason, criminal practitioners pay special attention to changes in the law that impacts the evidence admissible on the score. The U.S. Supreme Court decided one such case during this term and was set to hear oral argument in another this week.
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March 31, 2014
In an article titled “Immaculate Suspension: Non-Analytical Positive Doping Violations from USADA to MLB,” Barry Boss and Rebecca Brodey, of the Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, discuss a new era of combating drug use in baseball and other sports, one where athletes are increasingly suspended for doping violations not because of a positive drug test, but based on non-analytical evidence.
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January 22, 2014
OFAC does not deal only with cooperating entities, of course. On one hand, non-cooperating entities certainly run a risk that OFAC will refer their violations to criminal authorities. But even a non-cooperator can receive benefits, even grudgingly, under OFAC’s administrative-penalty regime — especially compared to companies that become targets of criminal prosecution and the severe penalties attendant to that process. That comparison between administrative and criminal punishments of non-cooperating entities, as discussed infra, may yield useful, persuasive data to criminal defense lawyers representing an entity under criminal investigation.
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January 01, 2014
Linda Regis-Hallinan, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, co-authored the article titled, "The New Enforcement Landscape for Financial Institutions" in The Review of Banking & Financial Services.
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December 23, 2013
As the formulas from Part 1 demonstrate, OFAC’s regulations strongly incentivize cooperation to reduce a violator’s penalty. The next section examines a few recent enforcement actions in which companies have taken advantage of these regulatory formulas to minimize penalties resulting from violations.
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December 16, 2013
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the trends and priorities discussed by DOJ and SEC FCPA officials at the American Conference Institute’s 2013 FCPA conference.
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November 20, 2013
Recent settlements in civil enforcement proceedings brought by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) suggest that cover-ups, not crimes, may invite the stiffest penalties. Frequently, companies that cooperate with OFAC investigations, admit wrongdoing and take remedial actions to prevent future violations escape the enforcement process with mild punishments. Indeed, even companies that eventually cooperate after some initial resistance fare well in OFAC’s administrative enforcement process and often avoid criminal penalties altogether — penalties that, aside from the reputational damage, carry much more severe consequences, including prison time for individuals and massive financial impact.
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August 28, 2013
Hayes Hunt and Michael Zabel, both from the firm's Litigation Section, address what happens when a criminal defendant is a corporation, including recent cases involving Halliburton and SAC Capital Advisors.
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July 24, 2013
Edward Snowden's detention in the Moscow airport transit zone, and the U.S. government's efforts to extradite him, may seem confined to that case's politically charged circumstances. But what if Snowden were merely a malingering corporate employee? Imagine if he had absconded with company secrets (such as the Coca-Cola recipe), or embezzled company funds, and was hiding out halfway across the world. Under what circumstances, if any, could he be forcibly returned to the United States to answer for his actions?
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August 16, 2012
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses how to resolve parallel government criminal and civil proceedings and private civil litigation.
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August 10, 2012
Immediately after the Supreme Court decided United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), cries arose from all corners of the federal criminal justice system that the sky had fallen and chaos undoubtedly would reign until Congress saved the day with a legislative fix. John Gibeaut echoed popular sentiment when he wrote in the ABA Journal eReport, on January 15, 2005, “Prosecutors likely won’t be the only ones on shaky ground after this week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision. . . . The earth also could be moving beneath defendants and judges, sentencing experts predict.”
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March 21, 2012
On March 15, a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of the district court litigation brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
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March 20, 2012
Justices Set to Revisit Affirmative Action for Universities - The Legal Intelligencer -
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January 24, 2012
The 'Eyes' Have It at the U.S. Supreme Court - The Legal Intelligencer -
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January 11, 2012
When 'The Law' Is in the Lobby - The Legal Intelligencer -
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September 12, 2011
PA Firms Making Midlevels Happier - The Legal Intelligencer - The bulk of Pennsylvania firms did a better job keeping their midlevel associates happy this year than they did last year, according to a survey by Legal affiliate The American Lawyer.
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March 11, 2011
Hold ’Em or Draw: The Strange Case of U.S. Enforcement Efforts Against Internet Gambling and Peer-to-Peer Poker - White Collar Crime Report - While federal and state legislators around the nation parse bills to regulate Internet poker, federal prosecutors have been quietly forfeiting Internet gaming proceeds under federal forfeiture statutes. These efforts follow several notable recent prosecutions of individuals for dealing with Internet gaming proceeds.
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September 01, 2008
Money Laundering Defense After Santos And Regalado Cuellar - NACDL's Champion Magazine - For some time, prosecutors and money laundering
charges have had a romantic relationship. For many years, the breadth of the statute was matched only by its draconian sentencing guideline ranges. In 2001, the Sentencing Commission amended U.S.S.G. § 2S1.1 to tie offense levels for money laundering more closely to the underlying conduct that was the source of the criminally derived funds.2 Many expected that this amendment would eviscerate the plea
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