We represent companies and individuals in all phases of civil and criminal investigations by federal and state agencies, including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), inspector general offices, state attorneys general offices, and state securities regulatory agencies.
Our clients include Fortune 500, mid-size and small companies, banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, investment funds, accounting firms, corporate executives, securities and compliance professionals, lawyers, and accountants.
We draw on the broad experience of Venable attorneys to assist clients in managing the risk of litigation while at the same time protecting the client's reputation. Our experience enables us to prevent regulatory inquiries from expanding into criminal or enforcement matters for clients. Our attorneys include former officials in the SEC's Enforcement Division, former assistant U.S. attorneys, former counsel with the CFPB and the special inspector general for TARP, former senior federal banking regulatory officials, and former state and local prosecutors. Our combined enforcement, litigation, compliance, and regulatory experience is unique, and it is the reason we are frequently retained to handle parallel civil and criminal investigations and help clients mitigate regulatory risk, assess litigation options, negotiate favorable settlements, conduct internal corporate investigations, and develop strong compliance procedures.
Our Experience
Government Investigations and Enforcement Proceedings
We represent clients in criminal and civil government investigations and enforcement proceedings concerning securities, banking, consumer finance, accounting, mortgage, and corporate governance issues.
Internal Investigations
We conduct internal investigations and regularly advise special board committees, audit committees, and individual corporate directors on a full range of fiduciary responsibilities, financial reporting obligations, and corporate governance matters. For example, we have advised executives and boards on financial restatements, internal/external auditor concerns, whistleblower allegations, shareholder derivative demands, and other corporate governance and internal control issues.
Compliance
We assist clients with the development, auditing, and testing of compliance policies, procedures, and systems. We also develop and conduct client-specific compliance training programs. Our experience includes creating compliance and supervisory procedures and trading desk manuals for broker-dealer firms and investment advisers, drafting insider trading procedures for companies, and advising companies on methods to ensure compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-bribery statutes, and anti-money laundering laws. We also work closely with Venable's Legislative Group to advise clients with respect to legislation affecting financial institutions.
Our Proactive Approach
We are aggressive in getting straight to the crux of issues. We dig deep to find out what's behind an investigation. We don't wait to see where a matter will go. We push to make it go away. You hear from us before you hear again from the government.
Practice Focus
- Attorney general investigations
- Bribery allegations
- Broker-dealer defense and compliance
- CFPB Investigations
- Financial Fraud
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- Grand jury investigations
- Insider trading
- Investment advisor defense and compliance
- Money laundering
- Records management
- SEC investigations
- Whistleblower
Client Focus
- Audit committees
- Financial industry professionals
- Financial institutions
- Investment funds
- Hedge funds and other financial institutions
- Individuals (CEOs, CFOs, corporate officers and directors)
- Multinational corporations
- Public companies