The Criminal Practitioner's Guide to Representing Financial Professionals

This program will provide guidance for attorneys representing financial advisors, hedge fund managers, investment bankers, research analysts and other securities industry members accused of crimes or otherwise involved in criminal investigations.

The United States financial markets are governed by a complex scheme of laws, regulations, and rules enforced by both government actors and self-regulatory organizations, including the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state "Blue Sky" authorities. Within this scheme, financial professionals are subject to various disclosure obligations, including the duty to promptly report certain types of arrests, convictions and other criminal justice events that become part of the individual's publicly-accessible industry profile. In addition, financial regulators are considered civil enforcement authorities and, as such, possess the power to compel the production of documents, data, and testimony without being subject to Fifth Amendment constraints. As a result, financial professionals often seek counsel whether to provide potentially incriminating information to financial regulators or refuse to do so and risk losing their securities licenses for failing to cooperate.

Finally, given that criminal prosecutions and regulatory inquiries often involve overlapping subject matter, criminal attorneys need to be ready to interface with regulators when necessary. Accordingly, this program will provide criminal practitioners with the helpful tools they need to represent financial professionals.

Learning Objectives:

1. Gain a general overview of the US financial regulatory scheme
2. Provide insight into the interface between this scheme with the criminal justice system
3. Summarize the various disclosure obligations imposed on financial professionals
4. Develop guidance on how to navigate Fifth Amendment issues
5. Discuss practical tips on how to engage financial regulators