Professionals in a variety of business sectors, including insurance, healthcare, government contracting, natural resources, fiannce, and higher education, routinely turn to our Chambers-ranked white collar criminal defense and government investigations practice group for guidance, particularly when charged with or suspected of violating criminal, regulatory, or tax laws.
Who We Are
Tom Bondurant, Jennifer DeGraw, Erin Harrigan, and Melissa O’Boyle have tried several hundred criminal jury and bench trials, and conducted thousands of investigations. With a former Chief of the Criminal Division of the Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office, a former Criminal Supervisor of the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office, and former state and federal prosecutors on our team, we are uniquely positioned to address any concerns our clients face.
Our practice group is ranked Band One by Chambers USA for Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Virginia, and individual attorneys in our group have been highly ranked and honored by Chambers USA, Virginia Business magazine’s Legal Elite, and Best Attorneys in America for criminal defense. In the past ten years we have handled numerous high-profile and landmark matters, such as facilitating the largest settlement of an opioid-related federal prosecution in U.S. history.
What We Do
Our white collar attorneys work closely with our clients at all stages of representation to ensure no avenue of action is left unexplored. The best victory involves persuading the government not to file charges against our clients, because litigation is increasingly expensive. We are experienced in negotiating favorable settlements or assisting clients in deciding whether to accept a plea bargain. But when litigation is warranted, we also have the trial experience, resources, and dedication to mount a vigorous defense on nearly any subject matter.
We primarily represent individuals and clients in investigations, regulatory enforcement actions, and criminal prosecutions initiated and conducted by federal and state law enforcement agencies and governmental entities, including:
- Congress
- State and federal grand juries
- U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAO), including in the Western and Eastern Districts of Virginia
- Department of Justice (DOJ), including its Environmental Crimes Section, Health Care Fraud Unit, Tax Division Criminal Enforcement Section, and Public Integrity Section (PIN)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG)
- Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
- State Attorneys General (AG)
- State regulatory enforcement taskforces, such as the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU)
These investigations and actions involve a broad range of statutes, regulations, and issues, including:
- Food, Drug, & Cosmetics Act (FDCA), and pharmaceutical marketing and advertising regulations
- Healthcare fraud, including Medicaid and Medicare fraud, misbilling, and overbilling
- Bribery, violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), and public corruption
- Securities enforcement
- Government contracting
- The Racketeering Influences and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
- Tax evasion and Internal Revenue Code (IRC) violations
- Espionage Act and national security
- Arms Export Control Act (AECA)
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
- Pharmacy regulations, including the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA)
- Environmental, natural resources, and animal welfare statutes and regulations, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Lacey Act
- Qui tam actions under the False Claims Act (FCA) and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA)
- Consumer protection acts, including the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA)
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Financial crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering
- Covid-19 and pandemic response
- Antitrust
- Federal program fraud
We also conduct internal investigations of individual and corporate clients suspected or accused of violating state or federal laws and regulations. This includes assisting clients in complying with parallel government investigations, preparing for audits, identifying misconduct prior to prosecution or civil enforcement, designing and helping implement corrective actions to minimize legal risk and exposure, and self-reporting. Our white collar attorneys recognize the highly-sensitive nature of internal investigations and advise clients on the prudence and timing of reporting illegal conduct to a governmental entity.
For clients not yet suspected or accused of misconduct, we provide compliance advice and proactively identify issues for corporate and individual clients to avoid violating the law, especially newly-enacted legislation or regulations.
We encourage you to review the personal pages of the attorneys in our Criminal & Government Investigations Group for additional information and then contact us to discuss your legal needs.
