Financial & White Collar Crimes
A major effort has been made by the Department of Justice recently in prosecuting businesses, and the persons who run them, for employing and harboring illegal aliens for which we also have experience defending.
Cases involving the largest sums of money are more often prosecuted in the federal court system. Charges of bank and securities fraud often include related offenses such as conspiracy and money laundering. We have significant experience defending these types of cases in the federal courts.
One of our federal criminal defense attorneys is a former Series 7 and 66 licensed securities dealer with experience dealing with issues related to those types of cases.
These cases, as do many federal cases, often involve criminal forfeiture counts in which prosecutors go after the profits and proceeds of those businesses. Many federal cases involve charges of making false statements to federal agents during the course of their investigation.
Our experience shows that the potential for such charges is very often a significant factor in determining whether to make any statements at all to federal agents given that an innocent mistake of fact can often be advanced as an intentional lie by federal prosecutors, especially if the investigation of the underlying suspected crimes does not develop. Effective representation in white collar criminal cases requires experience dealing with these types of issues.
The Federal Criminal Practice at Murphy & Price, LLP, is nationwide in scope, with particular focus on federal criminal cases in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, California and Florida.
State Court Financial Crimes Cases
Most financial crimes cases in state court involve thefts of smaller sums of money but are often prosecuted as felonies. Ironically, the penalties imposed in these cases often exceed those handed down in federal cases which often involve significantly larger sums of money. Experienced counsel is therefore essential in these types of cases as well.
Our experience shows that thefts involving smaller amounts of money are often motivated by the need for the offender to obtain money to fund an addiction. Our practice therefore in these cases very often includes referral to substance abuse treatment programs to develop an alternative sentencing option for the court where appropriate.