White Collar Criminal Defense

We have been involved in most of the prominent white-collar criminal matters in Minnesota, and have also represented clients across the United States, including clients in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia, California, and Texas. Our clients have included large publicly and privately held corporations and partnerships, officers and directors, and individual professionals.

We represent corporations and individuals in white-collar matters, including criminal, SEC, and FINRA investigations and litigation, and in parallel regulatory investigations and proceedings. We aggressively defend our clients in complex criminal trials and work to negotiate favorable resolutions with criminal authorities and regulatory agencies. Our representative experience includes matters involving securities, environmental, health care, tax, and other areas.

Greene Espel’s white-collar experience includes:

• Recently defended a client charged with multiple counts of tax evasion, mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in a six-week trial in federal district court in Minnesota. United States v. Russell Cole, et al. 

• Represented Director of Reimbursement of medical device manufacturer in two-month Medicare fraud trial in federal court in Minneapolis. At the end of the trial, the government dismissed all felony charges and offered the client a misdemeanor disposition. United States v. Augustine Medical, Inc., et al. 

•Represented an accountant in federal tax fraud prosecution associated with the Tom Petters fraud case. United States v. James Carl Wehmhoff
• Handled state and federal regulatory investigations, a federal grand jury investigation, and a federal debarment proceeding on behalf of a client in an environmental matter. Ultimately, all regulatory, civil, and criminal matters were resolved

• Represented individuals alleged to have engaged or directed the backdating of stock options

•  Defended an international oil refining firm in state and federal criminal and regulatory investigations

•  Convinced state officials not to bring criminal or civil charges after the launch of a state criminal investigation into a national health care provider

•  Avoided having charges filed against the owner of a privately-held company investigated for price fixing

•  Represented a high-level professional at a health care provider investigated for fraud related to billing practices

•  Defended an investor investigated for securities fraud relating to a series of initial public offerings

•  Represented publicly-traded companies during federal criminal and related regulatory investigations when an officer and director was discovered to have engaged in insider trading in the companies’ stock.

In addition to the United States Department of Justice, we have experience working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Future Trading Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and other regulatory bodies.