Government Investigations

You’ve received a subpoena.

Or maybe it’s an informal request for information.

All you know is someone from the government wants to talk to you.

The request may come from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), another federal agency, or a state attorney general.

Before we decide how to respond, I want to understand why they’re contacting you.

Not just what they’re asking for.

Why they’re asking you.

What and who are they investigating? What do you know about it? And what does the request tell us about how the government views your role?

You may be a witness. You may be a potential victim. You may be the subject or target of an investigation.

Or we may not know yet.

If you’re not a target, I want to keep it that way.

So I start with the request. What are you legally required to provide? What’s the deadline, and can you meet it? Are they asking for too much? And is there anything about the request that concerns me?

Then, because it usually makes sense, I pick up the phone.

Speaking with the government attorney handling the investigation can tell me things the subpoena doesn’t. What are they really looking for? How are they talking about you and what you might know? Are they going to ask for an interview or formal testimony? What time constraints are they working with?

What we learn informs our response.

We may be able to narrow what the government is asking for or buy you more time to respond. We may decide that providing more information than what they’ve asked for makes sense. Or we may have a reason to say no.

Government investigations are often dynamic. As we learn more, our strategy may need to change, too.