White Collar Defense & Investigations

Cahill’s White Collar Defense practice offers exceptional depth and breadth of government and trial experience. Our practice is co-chaired by former federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York. During their government service, our leading partners collectively supervised thousands of cases and conducted scores of criminal trials.

Cahill’s White Collar Defense practice is top-ranked by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation. Three Cahill partners have been recognized by Law360 for their achievements tied to White Collar matters.

Cahill frequently handles bet-the-company criminal and investigations matters for individuals, corporations and global financial institutions. Our team represents leading companies and their boards and committees in white collar cases involving matters such as corporate governance, cryptocurrency, financial fraud, securities laws violations and corruption, among others. Clients have included Walmart, electric carmaker Tesla, global bank Credit Suisse, and other financial institutions including leading investment banks and global hedge funds with billions under management. Especially in individual representations, we understand that these matters can shape families, relationships, and careers for a lifetime. Our team works to reduce client uncertainty by quickly assessing the facts and promptly crafting a legal strategy.

Select Representative Matters:

Institutional

• An automotive and clean energy company, in one of the highest profile and most closely watched SEC enforcement matters of 2018, relating to statements made by the CEO via Twitter on August 7, 2018, claiming that there was “funding secured” for a transaction to take the Company private.
• A global bank in an SEC Enforcement investigation into a delisted financial product, which concluded in a closing letter after a successful Wells submission.
• An international bank in a Federal Reserve Bank Enforcement investigation, resulting in the closure of the investigation.
• A pharmaceutical company in connection with the SEC’s investigation of and pending lawsuit against a hedge fund adviser, and his investment advisory firm.
• A global financial institution in an SEC Enforcement inquiry and internal investigation related to an employee’s potential dissemination of material nonpublic information, resulting in the closure of the enforcement investigation.
• A national financial institution in an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office into lending practices in the New York City taxi medallion industry.
• Five large hospital funds as plaintiffs in connection with potential claims against a financial services company arising from the implosion of their Structured Alpha investment products.
• A global bank in a CFTC Enforcement swaps trading investigation, which resulted in no enforcement action against the bank.
• An international bank in DOJ and FINRA investigations of the bank’s trading in certain products, resulting in no penalties being levied against the client.
• A global FinTech company, related entities, and certain directors, against litigation brought by various shareholders in the Southern District of New York, alleging fraud and other violations of federal securities.
• A global financial institution in a state attorney general’s office probe into loan securitizations.
• A company in a cross-border internal investigation surrounding alleged omissions in statements made to foreign regulators by senior management.
• A settlement services provider and related defendants in an SEC enforcement action pending in the Middle District of Florida over trusts that the SEC claims were managed by a shell company disguised as a non-profit.
• A prominent non-profit organization in an internal investigation surrounding accusations of sexual misconduct by one of its employees.
• A company in a cross-border internal investigation examining the effective operations of the institution’s CFO function.
• A wealth management firm in an SEC enforcement action pending in the District of Tennessee alleging that the firm committed securities fraud by failing to disclose certain fees and compensation.
• A global financial institution in SEC and CFTC Enforcement inquiries involving employees’ use of personal devices to send business-related text messages.
• A company in an internal investigation related to personal misconduct and policy violations by numerous senior executives.
• An alternative investment firm relating to issues of insider trading law.
• Multiple global institutions on policies, procedures, and best practices relevant to electronic communications retention.
• A global bank and three of its employees in a FINRA best execution inquiry.
• A manufacturer and certain employees in connection with an SEC investigation and related class action.

Individual

• The founder and former chairman of a $30 billion company that manufacturers zero-emissions vehicles, after a short seller accused the company and chairman of making false statements. Cahill represents the former chairman in connection with numerous ongoing and high-profile investigations by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the SEC, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
• An individual charged in the District of Columbia with laundering more than $4 billion in cryptocurrency – the largest financial fraud ever charged by the Department of Justice.
• A former partner at an accounting firm charged with wire fraud in the Southern District of New York, who was ultimately sentenced to time served.
• The former COO of a cryptocurrency fund in investigations conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and SEC Enforcement into a Ponzi scheme allegedly carried out by the fund’s founder, resulting in no charges being filed against the client.
• The co-founder of an international finance firm charged in the Southern District of New York in an alleged $100mm+ scheme to defraud investors by overvaluing and creating fake loans.
• The chairman and four other former directors of a provider of outsourcing solutions, former CEO, former CFO and three other former executives in several different litigation matters around the country relating to the financial demise and bankruptcy of the company. Various lawsuits sought $100M from multiple former directors and officers, alleging their “bad faith dereliction of duty” led to the firm’s financial collapse.  The settlement did not require any out-of-pocket payments by the defendants. As a comparison, the settlement amount apportioned to two other defendants represented by other legal counsel was $24.05 million.
• A former asset manager charged in the Southern District of New York in a $63mm securities fraud scheme.
• The former CEO and founder of a publicly traded company in a securities fraud investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and SEC Enforcement.
• The co-founder of a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange platform in an SEC Enforcement investigation.
• A prominent business owner charged with money laundering in the Southern District of New York.