Federal White-Collar Crime Lawyer

A federal white-collar investigation can put your liberty, your livelihood, and your reputation at risk long before you are ever charged, and by the time you learn about it, the government has often been building the case for months or years. White-collar cases are document-heavy, financially complex, and prosecuted by some of the most sophisticated Assistant United States Attorneys in the country, especially here in New York City. If federal agents, the SEC, or a grand jury subpoena have reached you, the lawyer you choose is the most important decision you will make.

Varghese & Associates, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and white-collar firm on Wall Street, in the heart of the Southern District of New York, the busiest white-collar jurisdiction in the nation. The firm is led by Vinoo Varghese, a former prosecutor and one of the most recognized criminal defense attorneys in the country. Our white-collar defense lawyers handle the full range of federal white-collar matters in house, from the first subpoena through investigation, indictment, trial, sentencing, and appeal. Matters are not routed out to other firms.

Call now for a confidential consultation with a New York City white-collar criminal defense attorney. The earlier our white-collar crime lawyers are involved, the more they can do.

What Is a White-Collar Crime?

A white-collar crime is a nonviolent, financially motivated offense that usually involves deceit, concealment, or breach of trust, such as fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, bribery, money laundering, or tax evasion. White-collar defendants are often professionals, executives, business owners, and public officials with no prior record, and a single investigation can threaten a career built over decades. Because these cases turn on intent and interpretation rather than physical evidence, they are frequently defensible in ways that violent-crime cases are not.

How Do Federal White-Collar Investigations Work in New York City?

Federal white-collar investigations typically run quietly for months or years, using grand jury subpoenas, document demands, cooperating insiders, and parallel regulatory inquiries, before anyone is arrested or indicted. In New York City, these cases are driven by the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts, working with the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the SEC, and other agencies. You may first learn you are involved when you receive a subpoena, a target letter, or a request for an interview, or when agents appear at your office. That pre-charge window is when a skilled white-collar defense lawyer has the most power to change the outcome, whether by persuading the government not to charge, narrowing the exposure, or preparing a defense before the government commits publicly.

The White-Collar Cases Our Defense Lawyers Handle

Varghese & Associates defends individuals, executives, professionals, and companies across the full white-collar docket. Each practice area below has its own in-depth page explaining the specific charges, statutes, penalties, and defenses. Start with the area that fits your situation, or call to speak with a white-collar crime lawyer directly.

Fraud Offenses

• Wire fraud defense, the government's most flexible fraud charge, covering schemes carried out by phone, email, or electronic transfer.
• Mail and wire fraud, the same theory using the mail or private carriers.
• Bank fraud, for schemes to defraud a financial institution.
• Securities fraud and insider trading, often charged alongside a parallel SEC action.
• Insurance fraud and internet fraud.
• Health care fraud, one of the most heavily investigated white-collar areas.

Financial and Money Offenses

• Financial crime defense, the broad category covering money-focused offenses.
• Money laundering and structuring, for moving or hiding the proceeds of a crime.
• Tax fraud and tax evasion.

Corruption, Racketeering, and Program Fraud

• RICO and enterprise corruption.
• False Claims Act defense, including qui tam whistleblower matters.
• PPP and pandemic-relief loan fraud.
• Public corruption, bribery, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters.
• Obstruction of justice, perjury, and false statements to federal agents.

What Happens When a Criminal Case Runs Alongside an SEC or Civil Investigation?

White-collar matters frequently involve parallel proceedings, meaning a criminal case runs at the same time as a civil enforcement action by the SEC or CFTC or a civil investigation by the DOJ, and a move in one can seriously damage the other. Testimony given to a regulator can be handed to criminal prosecutors, and a settlement in one forum can be treated as an admission in another. Coordinating a defense across the criminal and civil tracks, and protecting your Fifth Amendment rights throughout, is one of the most important and most technical parts of white-collar defense, and it is a core part of what our white-collar defense lawyers do.

How Does Sentencing Work in Federal White-Collar Cases?

Federal white-collar sentences are calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, where the single biggest driver is usually the dollar amount of the alleged loss, along with the number of victims and the sophistication of the scheme. Because loss drives everything, one of the most valuable fights in a white-collar case is over how loss is calculated, and the government's number is often inflated or wrongly attributed. Our white-collar crime lawyers contest the loss and victim calculations, challenge role and sophistication enhancements, present detailed mitigation, and argue for downward variances. In white-collar cases, a well-fought sentencing can be the difference between prison and a non-custodial sentence.

What Should You Do If You Are Under Investigation for a White-Collar Crime?

If you learn you are under investigation for a white-collar crime, do not talk to federal agents, do not answer a regulator's questions without counsel, and do not alter, delete, or destroy any documents or data. Call a white-collar defense lawyer immediately. Anything you say can be used against you, and destroying records or contacting witnesses after you know about an investigation can turn a defensible case into an obstruction charge. You have the right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment and the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment. Preserve everything, say nothing, and let your lawyer engage the government.

How Our White-Collar Defense Lawyers Can Help You

Our white-collar defense lawyers represent clients at every stage, and they look for the earliest possible point at which the case can be won or shrunk:

• Pre-indictment defense. Responding to grand jury subpoenas and target letters, handling proffers, and negotiating with the U.S. Attorney's Office to seek a declination, a non-prosecution or deferred-prosecution agreement, or reduced charges before an indictment is filed.
• Internal investigations. Conducting discreet internal reviews for companies, boards, and individuals facing federal exposure, and advising on disclosure decisions.
• Parallel-proceedings strategy. Coordinating the defense across criminal and SEC, CFTC, or DOJ civil tracks while protecting your constitutional rights.
• Motions and trial. Moving to dismiss defective charges, suppressing unlawfully obtained evidence, and trying cases before federal judges and juries when trial is the right path.
• Sentencing and appeal. Challenging the loss calculation, arguing for variances, defending against restitution and forfeiture, and pursuing appeals and post-conviction relief.

Why Choose Varghese & Associates for Your White-Collar Defense?

White-collar defense sits at the intersection of criminal law, financial forensics, and regulatory enforcement, and it demands a lawyer who is comfortable in all three. Vinoo Varghese brings a former prosecutor's understanding of how the government builds and charges these cases, a trial lawyer's willingness to take a case in front of a jury, and the national credibility of an attorney the major networks call on to explain the law. Our New York City white-collar defense attorneys handle these matters in house, on Wall Street, in the districts where the most significant white-collar cases in the country are prosecuted.

A White-Collar Defense Lawyer the National Media Turns To

When the biggest federal financial cases in the country are in the news, networks and newspapers call Vinoo Varghese to explain what is really happening in the courtroom. That is the same judgment and credibility our white-collar defense lawyers bring to your case.

Vinoo Varghese has provided legal analysis and commentary for CBS News, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, HLN, BBC, Inside Edition, i24 News, Sky News Arabia, and Nancy Grace's Crime Stories, and has hosted true-crime legal analysis for Vanity Fair. He has been quoted as a legal authority by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Law Journal, Law360, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. He is a former prosecutor from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, a nine-time National Trial Lawyers Top 100 honoree, an eight-time New York Metro Super Lawyer, and rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, and he has served on the visiting faculty of Harvard Law School's Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Contact a New York City White-Collar Crime Lawyer Now

If you are under federal investigation, have received a target letter or grand jury subpoena, are facing a parallel SEC inquiry, or have been charged with a white-collar offense anywhere in New York City, do not wait and do not talk to anyone but your lawyer. Speak with a federal white-collar crime lawyer who has stood in the courtroom, tried the cases, and earned the national platform that comes with real results.

Call Varghese & Associates, P.C. for a confidential consultation. Our office is located at 2 Wall Street, Suite 310, New York, NY 10005, steps from the federal courthouses of the Southern District of New York.