Federal Fraud Offenses

We have incredibly deep experience representing a broad range of professionals, executives, politicians, attorneys, and corporations in a multitude of fraud prosecutions, including some of the most significant prosecutions and trials brought by the Department of Justice, in Boston and beyond. Whether framed as mail fraud, wire fraud, financial fraud, microcap fraud, penny stock fraud, securities fraud, honest services fraud, bank fraud or mortgage fraud, the one common denominator is the factual and legal complexity of these matters. They often involve a staggering amount of discovery materials, often numbering in the millions of pages. As one of Boston’s most experienced federal fraud defense lawyers, and having successfully defended a broad range of these prosecutions, we have the skill set and resources necessary to effectively analyze, deconstruct and rebut these allegations.

There is no shortage of fact patterns we have faced in defending an extremely broad range of clients in these types of financial prosecutions, from “C” level executives discharged from their fortune 500 companies and blamed for business-wide or industry-wide practices, to entrepreneurs facing financial fraud allegations after building hundred-million dollar companies from nothing, to Wall Street and finance professionals charged in arcane areas of finance, to real estate developers and professionals, politicians, small business owners, and law enforcement officers. We have defended executives, professionals and corporations in federal fraud trials in Boston and beyond, some charging fraud schemes approaching or exceeding a billion dollars. In the end, we have developed a unique skill set through two decades of defending these complex cases in Boston and beyond, including many lengthy and demanding trials.

The stakes could not be higher. Federal fraud statutes, including mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, honest services fraud, and securities fraud, are increasingly used by federal prosecutors to pursue a wide variety of conduct, including business judgments and decisions that historically were at most the subject of civil lawsuits. The Department of Justice remains as focused as ever in prosecuting what it believes to be financial fraud, as evidenced by the creation of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and the National Mortgage Fraud team, which have been tasked with “vigorously” pursuing all forms of alleged financial fraud. In fact, the government “has elevated the fight against mortgage fraud, securities fraud and other forms of financial fraud to a cabinet-level priority.” The Attorney General made no mistake about the mission of the task force when announcing its formation in November 2009: “We will investigate you, we will prosecute you, and we will incarcerate you. We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing, and will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives.”

It is imperative that you obtain the right legal representation in these life-altering prosecutions, and do so as early as possible if you or a family member is the subject of a federal fraud investigation or prosecution in Boston or elsewhere. A person’s good faith belief in the legality of his conduct can be a defense to these actions, and the origin of an effective defense lies in a comprehensive investigation of all relevant facts and circumstances. Despite the Wall Street Journal’s observation that “bad judgment is still not illegal,” and that “prosecutors should reserve their efforts for clear cases of fraud, rather than imagining criminal behavior into mistaken business judgments,” prosecutors continue to employ these statutes to second-guess business decisions made by executives and professionals.

For more than twenty years, we have developed the exceptional skills necessary to defend federal fraud prosecutions, in Boston and throughout the country. If you or a family member is the subject of a fraud investigation or prosecution, we invite you to contact us to learn more about the depth of our experience, skills and knowledge in this area.