White Collar Criminal Defense and Internal Corporate Investigations

Represented privately held Napa wine company in parallel investigations by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Department of Justice.

Represented former medical insurance reimbursement director and chief medical officer of a molecular diagnostic test company in fraud investigation, avoiding both criminal and civil federal liability for clients in proceeding involving the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and California Department of Insurance. 

Represented UK national indicted for U.S. antitrust Sherman Act Section 1 violations and sentenced to just ten days supervised release. This case involved international extradition and INTERPOL issues. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco Division); Case No. 3:15-cr-00419-WHO.

This trade-secret-theft case was indicted in June 2018 against five former and one current Fitbit employees alleging that each defendant unlawfully possessed trade secrets of their former employer Jawbone, Inc.  We are counsel for the one current Fitbit employee, Ms. Zhang, in a high profile and closely watched federal criminal case pending in the Bay Area.  No trial date has been set.  U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Jose Division), Case No. CR 18-00259BLF

Represented a Northern California multi-facility medical center by conducting an internal investigation related to an inadvertent lapse in DEA licensing and thereafter negotiated a favorable civil settlement with the relevant US Attorney’s Office. 

Counsel for Bitstamp in the cutting edge crypto-currency litigation in federal court in the Northern District of California.  Bitstamp at the time (2015 and 2016) was the world’s largest crypto-currency exchange.  The litigation involved a federal court interpleader action regarding transactions by several crypto-currency founders including Jed McCaleb of Mt. Gox fame. (Ripple v. Bitstamp) This highly complex civil litigation on cutting edge crypto-currency issues also overlapped with white collar issues as some of the parties to the case were concurrently under federal criminal investigation for their activities in the crypto-currency industry.  This litigation involved the first time in history that an amount of crypto-currency was submitted to the possession of the federal court.  The case was settled favorably to Farella’s client.

Counsel for a Hitachi Automotive Systems executive in this high-profile antitrust cartel investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.  Based on the Farella team’s efforts, the client has not been charged in the case and his identity remains confidential.

Represented former CFO in U.S. DOJ prosecution and parallel SEC case relating to alleged backdating of stock option grants and tax evasion counts. Though she faced a potential sentence of up to six years, Ms. Abrams ultimately received a much more favorable sentence of only four months in custody.

Representing defendant in mortgage fraud and money laundering prosecution by U.S. Attorneys' Office in Northern District of California. Negotiated a favorable sentence.

In USA v Pacific Gas & Electric Company, represented former vice-president at the public utility company who is target of federal and state criminal investigations into two matters: (1) a gas pipeline explosion; and (2) alleged public corruption issues involving utility and regulator.

Represent medical facility employees in investigations of Medicare Fraud.

• Successfully represented former CEO of a university hospital in connection with a Medicare fraud investigation in the Central District of California (Orange County).
• Represented hospital-employee witnesses in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) in a federal grand jury investigation of Medicare fraud.
• Successfully represented county health care executive in Medicare fraud investigation by DOJ, the FBI, and the HHS Office of Inspector General. No criminal charges were filed.

Represented public-company board member in federal derivative action by corporate litigation committee.

We represented a former software company CEO in defense of a civil enforcement action brought by the SEC alleging accounting improprieties. After obtaining a ruling on summary judgment that significantly narrowed the claims against our client, we negotiated a favorable settlement with the SEC.

Represent individuals and corporations in various FCPA issues.

• Represented executive of international software corporation in investigation of Foreign Corrupt Practices issues arising out of activities in Brazil.
• Represented a former Chief Technology Officer of a publicly traded health care company in federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation regarding business of China subsidiary.
• Represented Silicon Valley private software company in federal investigation regarding alleged H-1 visa fraud.
• Conducted two-month internal investigation into Foreign Corrupt Practices Act-related issues involving China for the Audit Committee at a NASDAQ-traded Silicon Valley computer hardware company.