Mortgage and Bank Fraud

Mortgage fraud involves the assertion of false representations to lenders in securing a mortgage loan to purchase real estate. Our lawyers, including a former economic crimes prosecutor who prosecuted mortgage and bank-fraud cases, are adept at representing clients facing these types of investigations and charges.

Securities and Investment Fraud

Securities and investment fraud cases range from Ponzi schemes, pump-and-dump schemes, to unregistered-investment contracts to name a few of the many offenses individuals and businesses can face. The investigation and prosecution of these offenses may be spearheaded by the U.S. Securities Enforcement Commissions (SEC), the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Florida Department of Financial Regulation, and other state and federal agencies. Many of these matters involve parallel civil and criminal actions, which heightens the need for legal counsel who can practice comfortably in both contexts.

Health-Care Fraud

Health-care fraud often includes allegations of providing unnecessary health-care services, procedures, and improper referral or kickback payments. Our lawyers are experienced representing clients, including social workers, nurses, doctors, pharmacy owners, and health care facility owners, executives, operators, and employees. We understand how health-care fraud cases are investigated, we know the statutes that prosecutors are likely to use against our clients, we know how to evaluate and defend these cases, and we are fluent in the complex federal sentencing guidelines that play a major role in health-care fraud cases.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

The investigation and prosecution of the bribery of foreign public officials is fertile ground for aggressive and ambitious prosecutors. FCPA investigations and cases pose a significant risk to individual executives and employees at companies being investigated for possible FCPA and related money-laundering violations. Having represented clients in FCPA and related cases and investigations in federal courts throughout the United States, we are experienced at representing clients caught in the FCPA’s vortex, including cases involving stockbrokers, business managers, chief financial officers, and foreign contractors among others.

Money Laundering

Money laundering involves the movement of proceeds from a long list of specified crimes, which range from drug trafficking to violations of foreign bribery laws. Professionals and businesses who have been exposed to accusations of money laundering have included lawyers, real-estate professionals, bankers, investment advisors, accountants, and legitimate businesses or individuals moving money from a foreign country to the United States outside official foreign exchanges. We successfully defended an accountant in a significant and precedent-setting money laundering case.

Grand Jury Investigations and Subpoenas

For many individuals and businesses, their first experience with the criminal justice system is when an intimidating law enforcement official unexpectedly serves with them a subpoena to testify or produce records at a grand jury being used by prosecutors to investigate possible violations of law. We are experienced at examining the facts of each investigation carefully and representing witnesses, subjects, and targets of grand-jury investigations in many and varied matters such as securities fraud, drug-diversion schemes, health-care fraud, insurance fraud, FCPA, money laundering, political corruption, narcotics, and maritime- environmental violations amongst others.

Asset Forfeiture

In today’s enforcement and prosecutorial environment, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors routinely pursue forfeiture actions which not only impact the defendants they sue and prosecute but also their spouses, family members and business associates who may have nothing to do with the alleged wrongdoing. Those persons or business may have legitimate rights and claims to the forfeitable assets. The government’s vigorous pursuit of assets is on the rise. As experienced white-collar defense lawyers, we assist clients during the forfeiture aspects of their criminal cases, in addition to representing clients who are not involved in the alleged malfeasance at issue in the forfeiture proceedings.

Civil-Fraud Cases

In addition to government agencies that investigate varied violations of law, private parties regularly file and pursue civil lawsuits making allegations of fraud, deceit, and civil theft which pose serious threats to businesses because of potential claims for punitive or treble damages. Such cases also implicate serious reputational risks and may also become the subject of a criminal investigation. We are well positioned to represent and assist clients in such matters.

Other areas of experience