Stevens & Lee's White Collar Defense and Investigations Group has a long history of successfully representing clients in government investigations and prosecutions and related crisis management, conducting internal investigations for our corporate clients and providing guidance for compliance with the variety of regulations clients confront today.

Experience counts and can change the odds.
Our highly experienced team is comprised of lawyers who are widely recognized as leaders in their profession and who attained the reputation of quality among judges, prosecutors and investigative agencies that results from a long history of consistently obtaining excellent outcomes at trial.

Our team includes attorneys with substantial government expertise, including six former federal and state prosecutors who joined the firm after having obtained substantial experience as prosecutors. One of our members is a former trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. Three of our members are former Assistant United States Attorneys. One member is a former Executive Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania in charge of the Public Protection Division and another of our members is a former Philadelphia Deputy District Attorney. This experience, coupled with the skill and experience gained over many years of private practice, enables us to  accurately assess our clients’ exposure to criminal prosecutions and to provide the most reliable and efficient level of legal advice.

Our lawyers have defended corporate and individual clients against a wide variety of  allegations including:

• Antitrust, trade secrets, bid-rigging, price fixing or customer allocation
• Violations of food, drug and cosmetic laws and regulations
• Commercial bribery, embezzlement, extortion
• Money laundering
• Securities fraud, insider trading and other regulations
• Tax fraud
• Evasion of federal, state and local taxes
• Environmental law and regulatory violations
• Immigration and customs law violations
• Import or export law and regulatory violations
• Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Fraud - mail, wire, consumer, insurance and bank fraud
• Medicare, Medicaid or health care regulatory violations
• Government contracting law and regulatory violations
• Political corruption or theft of honest services fraud
• Violations of state or federal election campaign laws and regulations

We have defended professionals including doctors, accountants, lawyers, engineers, banking and financial professionals, elected officials, business owners, media personalities and professional athletes at criminal trials involving a wide range of allegations, including fraud, extortion, money laundering, tax evasion, racketeering, embezzlement, bribery, corruption, homicide and sex offenses.

Because of our favorable history in obtaining not guilty verdicts at trial, we have also been very successful in resolving criminal investigations on favorable terms for our clients.

Government Investigations – Corporate and Individual Defense
Our White Collar Defense and Investigations Group has achieved impressive results in resolving government investigations without prosecution. We expertly advise clients on how to respond to government inquiries and subpoenas and how to effectively and delicately handle related constituencies, such as employees who are under investigation. When grand jury action or trial becomes unavoidable, we have substantial experience defending criminal prosecutions and other enforcement proceedings.

Our team represents corporate and individual clients who are involved in ongoing grand jury investigations or are defendants in criminal indictments. We have handled a variety of high visibility state and federal investigations, grand jury proceedings and criminal trials on behalf of both corporations and individuals. 

Internal/Corporate Investigations
When clients confront situations involving violations of corporate policy or state and federal law by company employees or officials, we provide the investigative expertise to uncover the facts and assist them in making the right call on critical issues. We have conducted internal investigations on a wide range of issues for public and private companies and have navigated the most complex and challenging investigations to a successful conclusion. We regularly advise businesses regarding compliance with federal or state criminal laws or suspected violations by their officers, managers and employees.

Whether violations involve acts that directly victimize the company or acts that harm others – both of which can create potential civil or criminal liability – we are skilled in assisting clients in their dealing with government officials, shareholders, audit committees and other constituents.

Compliance
We ensure that clients thoroughly understand the myriad of complex federal and state laws and regulations that affect their business, and advise them on the development and implementation of corporate compliance programs and codes of conduct to address them. Federal sentencing guidelines for corporations are favorable to organizations that develop and implement effective programs for deterring and detecting employee wrongdoing. To that end, we work with our clients to assist them in preventing the misconduct that exploits the corporation and incurs civil or criminal liability.

Our team works closely with lawyers throughout the firm to prevent regulatory inquiries from becoming issues of criminal significance. Our unique focus on industry allows us to provide clients with the benefit of attorneys who focus specifically in one of the many areas of compliance a client may confront, from antitrust to corporate governance and environmental to health care.

Parallel Proceedings
We have a breadth of experience representing corporations and individuals who are subject to parallel civil and criminal investigations, including class action antitrust, securities, consumer fraud, health care fraud and false advertising cases. When a compliance issue, internal investigation, or government investigation results in a corollary proceeding, such as a class action lawsuit or SEC investigation, clients look to Stevens & Lee for advice. We represent clients in these related proceedings and coordinate the client’s needs among all of the various constituents and proceedings. In the civil area, we represent corporate and individual clients in cases involving civil RICO claims, qui tam actions or other allegations of fraud.

Representative Experience

• Obtained a not-guilty verdict on behalf of a corporate executive charged with participation in a bid-rigging scheme in the roofing industry
• Obtained not-guilty verdicts on behalf of a prominent Delaware stock broker against a 44-count indictment charging multiple instances of securities fraud and forgery. Trial ended in the client's acquittal on all charges
• Obtained not-guilty verdicts on behalf of a prominent investment banker charged with making false statements in connection with the federal investigation into political corruption in Philadelphia
• Obtained not guilty verdict for the attorney for a Philadelphia area real estate development company on nine of 12 counts of a federal indictment for theft of honest services fraud and mail fraud and obtained reversal of the three counts of conviction from United States Court of Appeals
• Resolved federal investigation of a prominent Philadelphia area golf club alleged to have violated immigration laws regarding seasonal workers
• Successfully defended federal investigation of companies operating boarding schools for troubled youths alleged to have committed financial institution fraud in connection with obtaining federally guaranteed student loans
• Successfully defended federal investigations of several companies in the food industry and government contractors alleged to have violated the antitrust laws
• Successfully defended state investigation of Central Pennsylvania newspaper alleged to have violated state statutes regarding misuse of internet facilities
• Successfully defended federal investigations against public companies involved in the commercial real estate and energy industries alleged to have violated federal securities laws
• Successfully defended state investigation of internet marketing company alleged to have committed consumer fraud
• Successfully defended several federal investigations against attorneys and corporate officials alleged to have been involved in corruption of public officials or campaign contribution regulations

For more information, contact William A. DeStefano at 215.751.1941.