Financial Crime Lawyer

A financial crime is a nonviolent offense in which someone uses deception, concealment, or a breach of trust to obtain money, property, or an unfair financial advantage, and at the federal level these cases carry years in prison, heavy fines, restitution, and asset forfeiture. Financial crimes include fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, securities violations, and tax offenses, and they are investigated by the most sophisticated federal agencies in the country. Because these cases turn on intent and complex records rather than physical evidence, they are frequently defensible, but only with the right lawyer and an early start. If you are under investigation or charged in New York City, a financial crime lawyer should be your first call.

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. Financial crime is a core part of our federal white-collar crime defense practice, and the firm is led by Vinoo Varghese, a former prosecutor and one of the most recognized criminal defense attorneys in the country. Our financial crime lawyers handle these cases 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 financial crime attorney. The earlier our financial crime defense lawyers are involved, the more they can do.

A Financial Crime 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 financial crime 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.

That national platform is built on real courtroom credentials:

• Former prosecutor. Before founding the firm, Vinoo Varghese served as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, working trials, investigations, and appeals. He knows how the government builds a financial crime case because he used to build them.
• Nationally ranked. Named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 for nine consecutive years, selected as a New York Metro Super Lawyer for eight years, and rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for legal ability and ethics, for six years.
• Teaches other lawyers to try cases. He has served on the visiting faculty of Harvard Law School's Trial Advocacy Workshop and taught trial advocacy at Cardozo, Brooklyn Law School, and Hofstra.
• A courtroom lawyer, not a referral service. He has personally tried and argued federal and state matters, including insider-trading, tax-fraud, and public-corruption cases, and has won mistrials, appeals, and acquittals through aggressive cross-examination and motion practice.

What Is a Financial Crime?

A financial crime is any offense committed to obtain money or property through fraud, deceit, or the abuse of a position of trust, rather than through force, and common examples include fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, insider trading, and tax evasion. Financial crimes are sometimes called economic crimes or white-collar crimes, and they range from a single false statement on a loan application to sprawling schemes involving many people and millions of dollars. At the federal level, they are charged under a wide set of statutes and prosecuted by well-resourced agencies, which is why any financial crime allegation should be taken seriously from the very first contact.

Types of Financial Crimes Our Defense Lawyers Handle, and the Statutes Behind Them

Financial crime is an umbrella that covers many specific federal offenses, and prosecutors routinely stack several together, adding a conspiracy count and often a money laundering count on top of the core charge. The categories our financial crime lawyers defend most often, and the statutes typically charged, include:

• Wire, mail, and bank fraud, the government's most flexible fraud tools (18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1341, and 1344). See our wire fraud defense page.
• Securities fraud and insider trading, often with a parallel SEC action (15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78ff; 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5; 18 U.S.C. § 1348).
• Money laundering and structuring, for moving or hiding the proceeds of crime (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 and 1957; 31 U.S.C. § 5324). See our money laundering defense page.
• Tax crimes, including evasion and false returns (26 U.S.C. §§ 7201 and 7206).
• Embezzlement and theft by someone in a position of trust (18 U.S.C. §§ 656, 664, and 641).
• Bank fraud and mortgage fraud, targeting financial institutions (18 U.S.C. § 1344).
• Identity theft and access-device fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1028A and 1029).
• Health care and government-program fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1347; 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)).
• Conspiracy, added to nearly every financial crime case (18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1349).

Who Investigates Financial Crimes?

Federal financial crimes are investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Homeland Security Investigations, often working with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and using banks' suspicious activity reports. These agencies follow the money through bank records, wire transfers, tax filings, and, increasingly, cryptocurrency analysis, and their investigations can run quietly for months or years before anyone is charged. Each investigative tool is also a potential weakness. If you learn you are under investigation, that early window is the most valuable time to bring in a financial crime defense lawyer.

What Are the Penalties for Financial Crimes?

Penalties for federal financial crimes vary by offense but are severe, with fraud counts carrying up to 20 or 30 years each, money laundering up to 20 years, and nearly all convictions bringing heavy fines, restitution to victims, and forfeiture of assets tied to the offense. Federal sentences are calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, where the 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 controls so much of the sentence, contesting how it is calculated is one of the most valuable fights in a financial crime case, and it is a central focus of our defense.

What Are the Defenses to a Financial Crime Charge?

Financial crimes turn on intent and interpretation, which is exactly where the defenses live. Every case is different, but the strategies our financial crime lawyers commonly use include:

• No criminal intent. Most financial crimes require a knowing, willful intent to defraud. An honest mistake, a good-faith belief, or a business decision that went wrong is not a crime.
• Good-faith reliance. Reasonable reliance on the advice of a lawyer or accountant can negate the intent the government must prove.
• No scheme or no materiality. The government must prove a real scheme and a material misrepresentation, not just an aggressive or unusual transaction.
• Attacking the loss and the paper trail. Forensic accounting can dismantle inflated damages theories and the government's account of who did what.
• Suppression. Where records were obtained through an unlawful search, subpoena, or seizure, our attorneys move to suppress under the Fourth Amendment.
• Cooperator credibility. Many financial crime cases rest on insiders working off their own exposure, and their motives and inconsistencies can be exposed.

What Should You Do If You Are Under Investigation for a Financial Crime?

If you learn you are under investigation for a financial crime, do not talk to federal agents, do not answer a subpoena or regulator's questions without counsel, and do not alter, delete, or destroy any documents or data. Call a financial crime 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 without counsel, and let your lawyer engage the government.

How Our Financial Crime Lawyers Can Help You

Our financial crime defense attorneys defend these cases 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 or reduced charges before an indictment is filed.
• Parallel-proceedings strategy. Coordinating the defense across the criminal case and any parallel SEC, CFTC, or DOJ civil investigation while protecting your Fifth Amendment rights.
• Financial investigation. Working with forensic accountants to trace funds independently and separate legitimate activity from what is alleged to be criminal.
• Motion practice. Moving to dismiss defective counts, suppressing unlawfully obtained evidence, and limiting the government's proof.
• Trial. Trying cases before federal judges and juries in the Southern District, the Eastern District, and other districts as engaged, which is exactly why the firm prepares every case for trial from the start.
• Sentencing and mitigation. Challenging the loss calculation that drives the guideline range, arguing for variances, and defending against restitution and forfeiture.

Representative Results

Vinoo Varghese has achieved results in serious federal and high-stakes financial matters, including securing a mistrial through cross-examination in a public-corruption prosecution, obtaining a new trial and ultimately an acquittal in a federal tax-fraud case after exposing prosecutorial misconduct, and defending clients in insider-trading and other white-collar matters. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different, and past success in one matter does not predict the result in another.

Is a Financial Crime a Felony?

Most federal financial crimes are felonies, carrying the possibility of years in prison, substantial fines, restitution, and forfeiture, along with lasting damage to a career and reputation. Some smaller offenses can be charged as misdemeanors, but the fraud, money laundering, and tax statutes that make up most financial crime cases are serious felonies. Because even a first offense can carry significant prison exposure, every financial crime allegation should be treated as serious from the start.

What Is the Difference Between a Financial Crime and a White-Collar Crime?

The terms overlap heavily: a white-collar crime is any nonviolent, financially motivated offense involving deceit or breach of trust, while a financial crime specifically centers on money, property, and financial systems, so nearly every financial crime is also a white-collar crime. In practice the distinction rarely matters to how a case is charged or defended. What matters is that both are prosecuted aggressively in the federal courts of New York City, and both demand a lawyer who understands financial evidence, regulatory overlap, and federal criminal procedure.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Financial Crime Lawyer in New York City?

The cost of a financial crime lawyer in New York City depends on the complexity of the alleged scheme, the volume of financial records, whether regulators are involved, and whether the case resolves before or goes to trial. These cases involve extensive document review, forensic accounting, and detailed motion practice, so they require real work. Our financial crime attorneys are transparent about fees from the first conversation and structure the representation to fit the matter. Given the prison exposure and asset forfeiture at stake, the more important question is usually what an inadequate defense can cost you.

Contact a New York City Financial Crime Lawyer Now

If you are under federal investigation, have received a target letter or grand jury subpoena, or have been charged with a financial crime anywhere in New York City, do not wait and do not talk to anyone but your lawyer. Financial crime is central to our federal white-collar crime defense practice, and a financial crime lawyer who has stood in the courtroom and tried the cases can change what happens next.

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.