White Collar Crime and When You Should Hire an Attorney

Federal and State Criminal Defense Attorney Sean Buckley is a highly-recognized Houston attorney. For over two decades Sean Buckley successfully defended clients in a wide range of criminal matters including white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions. Buckley offers the following general guidance for white-collar professionals who believe they may be under criminal investigation. Retain competent counsel immediately If you're a Houston white-collar professional who believes you may be under criminal investigation, you should retain competent white-collar defense counsel immediately. Telltale signs you may be implicated in a criminal investigation include search warrants or grand jury subpoenas being served at your place of business, personal visits by law enforcement agents seeking information about your business and its activities, or tips from third parties (such as CPAs or corporate vendors) who've received grand jury subpoenas or requests for information about your business and its activities. An attorney can speak to investigators on your behalf Criminal investigators almost always seek to interview subjects before proceeding with criminal charges. Federal agents from the FBI, IRS, and other agencies are trained in subtle and overt interrogation techniques that can quickly overwhelm even the most sophisticated professional. Speaking with government investigators without a Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer is often the single biggest mistake professionals make in the course of responding to investigations. This mistake typically stems from the false belief that criminal investigators can easily be talked out of pursuing criminal charges if they would simply recognize an individual's good intentions or better understand the context of relevant events. In cases where a criminal investigation may actually be diffused prior to criminal charges, an experienced white-collar lawyer can get your narrative to investigators without committing you to specific statements that could later be used against you. An attorney can educate you about the specific crimes on the table. Federal white-collar crimes are often extremely technical and obscure. Criminal investigators may appear to be investigating one thing, when in fact they are investigating something tangentially related or even completely separate. Before responding to any white-collar investigation, it is critical to know what specific statutory violations are at issue and the general factual basis underlying those allegations. An experienced Federal or State white-collar lawyer can evaluate these factors, inform you of your potential criminal exposure, and carefully navigate a path forward that won't inadvertently implicate you in one statutory crime while attempting to exonerate you of another. For over two decades, Houston criminal defense attorney Sean Buckley has successfully defended white-collar criminal cases including winning a stunning "Not Guilty" verdict in a $120 million federal healthcare fraud conspiracy and money laundering trial, obtaining dismissals of charges in state and federal white-collar cases, and diffusing state and federal white-collar federal criminal investigations before criminal charges were ever filed. He is the lead editor of the nationally-respected O'Connor's Federal Criminal Rules & Codes (Thomson Reuters, 2010-20).

Attorney Sean Buckley is a protégé of famed criminal defense trial lawyer Dick DeGuerin, whose influence defined Buckley’s skillset and multi-dimensional approach to defending clients. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Buckley’s work has been favorably covered by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and numerous other national and local media outlets. Buckley also serves as lead editor of O’Connor’s Federal Criminal Rules & Codes, a legal reference book used by criminal lawyers across the United States. He earned his B.A. from Auburn in 1996 and his law degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 1999. Contact us today to set up a Free Case Evaluation!