Menu
If the FBI shows up at your door, step outside and close the door behind you. Ask for credentials and a business card. Say you will not answer questions without your lawyer. Do not agree to a search. Then call a federal criminal defense attorney in NYC right away.
A knock from federal agents is almost never random. By the time agents reach a Manhattan hallway or a Brooklyn stoop, the case is usually months old. The government has already gathered records and talked to people who know you.
Agents come to the door with a theory. The interview exists to get you to confirm it in your own words. Vinoo Varghese and our NYC federal criminal defense attorneys take these calls at all hours for one reason. What a person says on a doorstep often becomes the strongest proof the government has.
Call now for a confidential consultation with a NYC federal criminal defense attorney. The earlier our federal criminal defense attorneys are involved, the more they can do.
Call (212) 430-6469 to speak with a New York City federal criminal defense lawyer today, or contact us online for a confidential consultation.
☎ Call NowSay very little. Give your name. Ask for each agent's name, badge number, and card. Then say one sentence: "I am not answering questions. I want my lawyer." Stay polite and stop talking. Politeness costs nothing. Explaining yourself can cost a great deal.
Most people believe silence looks guilty. They think a quick, honest answer will make agents leave. That is almost never how it works.
Federal agents are trained interviewers. They already hold records you have not seen in years. A person trying to be helpful fills gaps from memory.
People round numbers. They mix up dates. They describe old conversations as if the words were exact. Each honest mistake becomes a possible lie in the government's file.
There is also no such thing as an off the record chat with the FBI. Agents usually do not record a doorstep interview. One agent talks while the other takes notes.
Those notes later become an official written report. That report, not a recording, becomes the government's version of the conversation. Fighting that version later means testifying against a federal agent's memory.
A short script works best:
No. Without a signed federal search warrant, agents cannot enter your home or private office if you object. Agreeing to let them in gives up your protection against unreasonable searches. Step into the hallway, pull the door shut, and say clearly that you do not agree to entry or to a search.
Agents may ask to come in and sit down where it is more comfortable. They may say it will only take a minute. That invitation is a legal turning point.
Once you say yes, the search is generally lawful. Anything agents can see inside becomes fair game. You also give up the chance to challenge that search later.
Permission cannot be pulled back after agents are inside and looking. A federal search warrant is different. It is a signed court order, and it must be respected even though you still do not have to answer questions.
The same rule applies at a business. Employees and front desk staff often let agents into a suite because a badge is intimidating.
Every New York company should have a written plan for this. Staff should take a card, say nothing, and call counsel. Our federal criminal defense attorneys prepare those plans for clients long before an agent ever arrives.
Yes. Lying to a federal agent is its own federal crime, even when the conduct being investigated was never illegal. A federal false statements charge does not require an oath or a courtroom. People are prosecuted every year for the interview, not for the investigation behind it.
You do not have to be under oath. A false answer given in a doorway can be enough. The statement only has to matter to the investigation.
Related exposure comes from what people do after the visit:
This is why our federal criminal defense attorneys never say "just tell the truth and it will be fine." Honest people misremember. Honest people also panic.
Panic is what turns a witness into a defendant. Deleting texts and comparing stories can create new charges. Staying quiet and calling a lawyer does not.
Do not resist and do not agree to anything beyond what the warrant orders. Read it. Note which judge signed it and what it covers. Say that you do not agree to a search but will not interfere. Then call a NYC federal criminal defense attorney while agents are still in the building.
A federal search warrant must describe the place to be searched. It must also describe the items agents may take. It does not give agents the right to question anyone.
Being served with a warrant does not require you to answer a single question. Agents often use the noise and stress of a search to start an interview in a kitchen or a conference room. That interview is voluntary. Turn it down.
Steps that help during a search:
Those notes matter later. A suppression motion asks a federal judge to throw out evidence that was gathered improperly. It is built from details noticed on the day of the search.
A business card means an agent wants an interview. A target letter is far more serious. It is a written notice from federal prosecutors that they believe they can charge you. Neither one should ever be answered without a federal criminal defense attorney.
Federal investigations sort people into three groups. A witness has information but no real exposure. A subject is someone whose conduct is being examined.
A target is someone prosecutors believe they can indict. These labels are not permanent. A witness who gives a bad interview can become a subject that same afternoon.
An unanswered business card is not a crime. Nothing requires you to call an agent back. There is, however, real value in having counsel make that call instead.
When our federal criminal defense attorneys make contact, the conversation happens on defense terms. Counsel can learn which agency and which prosecutor are involved. Counsel can also confirm that you are represented and stop further direct contact.
That window also allows pre charge work. Our federal criminal defense attorneys may request a meeting with prosecutors before any charge is filed. They can present helpful documents and argue against an indictment, though no result can be promised.
No. Asking for a lawyer is not proof of anything. Federal prosecutors deal with represented people every day and expect it. What actually damages a case is an answer that changes, a deleted message thread, or a story that shifts between the doorstep and the grand jury.
You have the right to stay silent. You have the right to a lawyer. Those protections come from the Bill of Rights, and using them is normal.
The request has to be clear. "Maybe I should talk to someone" is not enough. "I want my lawyer, and I am not answering questions" is.
There is one more thing worth knowing. Federal agents are allowed to use deception during an interview.
An agent may say a coworker already named you. An agent may say this is your last chance to explain. Those tactics are legal, and none of them are promises.
Doing the same thing in reverse is a federal crime. A conversation with those rules is not a fair fight. That imbalance is exactly what a federal criminal defense attorney is there to correct.
The answer does not change with the setting. An agent who calls your cell, waits in your office lobby, or approaches your spouse wants the same unguarded statement. Take a name and a number. Say your lawyer will respond. Then end the conversation politely.
Contact away from home is often on purpose. Approaching someone at work adds social pressure and creates witnesses.
Reaching a family member sends a message. It can also produce a well meaning relative who talks freely about money, travel, or business.
Everyone in your home and office should know the rule. Say nothing beyond confirming that you have a lawyer.
Business owners face an added problem. A federal subpoena to the company for records is not the same as a request to interview an employee.
An employee's personal exposure can be very different from the company's. Our federal criminal defense attorneys sort out those conflicts, including when a parallel regulatory investigation is running at the same time.
FBI visits in New York City usually grow out of financial and white collar investigations. Agents also appear in narcotics, firearms, cybercrime, public corruption, and healthcare billing cases. The type of investigation sets how fast a federal criminal defense attorney needs to move.
Investigations that often begin with a doorstep interview include:
A visit tied to any of these signals a mature investigation. Agents are usually sent to knock late in the process. By then, the documents have already been collected.
Hire counsel, save everything, and stop talking about the visit. The two days after agents appear are when avoidable damage happens. Deleted messages, rushed explanations, and social media posts all become evidence. Discipline in that window protects every option that follows.
A short checklist for the first 48 hours:
Defense of a federal investigation moves in stages. Each stage has a deadline that closes quietly. Our NYC federal criminal defense attorneys work a case from early contact through independent investigation, motion practice, negotiation, and trial.
Early contact. Reaching the agent and the federal prosecutor establishes that you are represented. It stops direct approaches. It also reveals whether you are treated as a witness, a subject, or a target.
Independent investigation. Federal cases are document cases. Rebuilding your own records and communications often shows that the government is reading an ordinary transaction the wrong way.
Motion practice. Where agents went too far, our federal criminal defense attorneys file suppression motions asking the court to exclude that evidence. Other pretrial motions can narrow what a jury is ever allowed to hear.
Negotiation. When resolution is the right path, negotiation covers the charges, the loss amount, forfeiture, and restitution. Those numbers drive sentencing exposure more than the charge name alone.
Trial. Some federal cases must be tried. Varghese & Associates, P.C. tries cases in the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, and the District of New Jersey. Matters are handled in house and are not sent out to other firms.
Vinoo Varghese is a former Brooklyn prosecutor and a trial lawyer. He has been named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 for nine straight years. He also serves as visiting faculty at the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.
He has been recognized as a New York Metro Super Lawyer for eight years. He holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He has taught trial advocacy at Cardozo, Brooklyn Law School, and Hofstra.
National media rely on him to explain federal prosecutions. He has appeared on CBS News, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, HLN, the BBC, and Inside Edition.
He has also been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Law Journal, Law360, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. Clients facing a federal investigation in New York City work with him directly.
If FBI agents came to your door, left a card, called you, or searched your home or business, the investigation is already well along. The time to shape what happens next is now.
Call Varghese & Associates, P.C. for a confidential consultation. Our office is at 2 Wall Street, Suite 310, New York, NY 10005, steps from the federal courthouses where these cases are decided. A NYC federal criminal defense attorney is available to talk through what happened and what comes next.
Call (212) 430-6469 to speak with a New York City federal criminal defense lawyer today, or contact us online for a confidential consultation.
☎ Call NowAttorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Attorney Advertising | Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
