White Collar Defense

Mintz Levin has one of the most vibrant and diverse white collar criminal defense practices in the country. Our White Collar Defense Group has represented a spectrum of high-profile clients, including Fortune 500 corporations, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, and leading political figures. We successfully represent both individuals and businesses in a wide range of federal, state and administrative criminal matters, in courts and agencies nationwide, and we have tried some of the most highly publicized white collar criminal cases in the country. In the past five years, Mintz Levin attorneys have tried cases to verdict on behalf of clients charged with mail fraud, federal highway fraud, false claims, false statements, health care fraud, anti-kickback violations, racketeering, and obstruction of justice. Our trial lawyers recently secured acquittals in two high-profile pharmaceutical anti-kickback trials, as well as a complex tax evasion prosecution.

As criminal inquiries and civil lawsuits often proceed simultaneously, our attorneys expertly manage both proceedings to protect our clients' constitutional rights without detriment to their defense of civil litigation. Our attorneys are particularly skilled at quickly understanding a client's business needs and working to minimize the impact of any government investigation on company operations and employees. We have also successfully defended government contractors in state and federal debarment proceedings.

The White Collar Defense Group's most significant achievements are often its least publicized-because we develop early, aggressive and creative strategies for managing grand jury and other governmental investigations to avoid indictment. By vigorously defending against allegations from the outset, we often succeed in convincing prosecutors not to proceed criminally against our clients, or to otherwise resolve matters short of indictment.

Mintz Levin's White Collar Defense Group has extensive experience and capabilities in these areas:

      - Antitrust Violations
      - Appeals
      - Environmental Violations
      - Foreign Corrupt Practices
      - Fraud and False Claims
      - Health Care Fraud and Abuse
      - Public Corruption
      - Racketeering
      - Securities
      - Tax Evasion

Please click on one of the links above or scroll down to read about our experience in more detail. For more information about our White Collar Defense Group, contact Tracy A. Miner, Practice Group Chair.


Antitrust Violations

Price fixing, bid rigging, and other per se antitrust violations continue to be a major source of law enforcement activity. The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has increased its involvement in these cases in recent years, and this deeper scrutiny of corporations and individuals is likely to continue. Our attorneys are experienced in all aspects of antitrust cases, from early intervention and management of grand jury investigations to defending clients at trial. We recently resolved a multi-year investigation in the construction industry without any charges being brought against our corporate client.

Appeals

Our White Collar Defense Group has extensive resources available to prosecute and defend appeals in both federal and state court. In addition to appealing convictions based on trial error, we have significant experience appealing sentencing determinations based on application of the United State Sentencing Guidelines. Following the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, our appellate advocacy resulted in reduced sentences for many of our clients.

Environmental Violations

Many environmental laws carry criminal as well as civil penalties. Our White Collar Defense Group has represented clients in connection with grand jury investigations of "midnight dumping," Clean Air Act violations, and other alleged environmental crimes. We have also represented clients charged by federal and state authorities with discharging pollutants and hazardous substances into public water systems. In most of these cases, we have successfully negotiated administrative or civil resolution of these criminal investigations.

Foreign Corrupt Practices

Businesses and their executives conducting operations outside of the United States are subject to the anti-bribery and record-keeping requirements of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), violations of which are subject to criminal enforcement. Our attorneys have defended corporations and individuals in FCPA investigations into activities in several countries, including Brazil, Cambodia, Africa, Libya, and Switzerland. We have conducted internal investigations on behalf of corporations and, where appropriate, have made voluntary disclosures which allowed our clients to avoid criminal prosecution.

Fraud and False Claims

Fraud comes in all forms, in all industries, and prosecutors can use a plethora of federal and state statutes to prosecute it. When government funding is involved, prosecutors have been particularly aggressive in finding criminal violations to seek incarceration, restitution and fines. Our attorneys have successfully defended cases alleging bank fraud, false claims in the construction industry, ERISA fraud, mail and wire fraud, telemarketing fraud, and government programs fraud at all stages, including trial. Recently our attorneys negotiated a landmark criminal-civil settlement on behalf of a company charged with submitting false claims on the Big Dig project in Massachusetts.

Health Care Fraud and Abuse

Responding to investigations and criminal and civil proceedings by government authorities and qui tam plaintiffs requires a thorough understanding of the current health care environment and the health care industry's complex regulatory structure, as well as the investigatory and litigation process. Many members of our White Collar Defense Group are also members of the firm's Health Care Enforcement Defense Group, and work closely with Mintz Levin's experienced Health Law attorneys to bring this understanding to proceedings involving our clients. Our attorneys have defended clients-including doctors, hospitals, medical device companies, nursing homes, and pharmaceutical companies-against investigations and prosecutions in all areas of health care, including anti-kickback, off-label promotion, false claims, uploading, and misbilling cases. We attorneys recently secured acquittals at trial in two highly publicized federal anti-kickback cases involving employees of pharmaceutical companies.

Public Corruption

Mintz Levin has been involved in virtually every major political case in New England over the last several years, and has represented lobbyists, congressmen, senators, and other public officials in a variety of matters-including bribery and gratuities, conflicts of interest, obstruction of justice, extortion, and campaign finance violations-that have not resulted in public proceedings. Our Washington, D.C. office successfully represented the president of a D.C.-based non-profit who was prosecuted in the Jack Abramoff investigation conducted by the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section. Our New York office has recently represented high-level public officials and judges, as well as private entities, in connection with investigations of financial impropriety, extortion, bid rigging, and bribery.

Racketeering

The attorneys in our White Collar Defense Group have defended clients charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a powerful statute used by prosecutors to bring complex prosecutions alleging criminal activity and often spanning lengthy time frames. Our Boston attorneys defended a high-profile RICO prosecution of a former FBI agent charged with a number of crimes over 20 years, and secured acquittals on many of the most serious charges. Our New York office has represented union officials in massive RICO cases challenging the infiltration of organized crime into the moving and storage and hotel and restaurant industries.

Securities

Our White Collar Defense Group is experienced in SEC investigations of all types, including insider trading, market manipulation, stock option backdating, accounting issues, registration violations, Ponzi schemes, and '40 Act problems. Our lawyers recently convinced the SEC to forego criminal or civil charges against a major national medical supply company, following an SEC investigation into alleged financial misreporting by company executives. Often working closely with the firm's Securities Litigation Group, we have achieved similar results for executives and companies in a variety of industries. We have also avoided prosecution of clients accused by the U.S. Attorney's Office of revenue manipulation and other financial misconduct in cases that led to the indictment of others.

Tax Evasion

Attorneys in our White Collar Defense Group have successfully represented both corporate and individual clients against charges of tax evasion by state and federal regulatory agencies and law enforcement. Through early intervention with the IRS and DOJ Tax Enforcement Division, we have been able to negotiate favorable resolutions early on in the process. Where no negotiation is possible, our attorneys have taken and will take cases to trial. In April 2009, after a four-week jury trial, we secured the acquittal of a former public company CEO who had been charged with income tax evasion.

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