Atlanta White Collar Crime Attorneys

What is "White Collar Crime?" This term is used a lot these days, you hear it in the news and media, yet few know what it really means. White collar crime is an act of theft or other criminal conduct which violates a corporate or government officer's fiduciary duties. Thus, if a person is acting in a position of financial trust or management for a client, a business, or a government agency, and they do something illegal, stealing the company's funds, for example, then that person has committed a white collar crime. Thus the key element in the definition of white collar crime is that a person has been placed in a position of trust and that they have used that position to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of the organization or client for whom they work.

These cases are being taken extremely seriously by the government these days, and the penalties can be severe, including years of imprisonment and huge fines. At the same time, these cases can be highly problematic for prosecutors to prosecute, because of their complexity. In order to win at trial, the prosecutor has to prove that the person actually intended to commit a criminal act. This is many times difficult to prove because the prosecutor has to prove the person's state of mind and, at the same time, present complex financial information to a jury who has to actually understand what the prosecutor is trying to prove. Thus, white collar cases offer Atlanta Georgia criminal defense lawyers a variety of ways to defend their clients against such charges.

The other key distinction in white collar crime cases is that persons under suspicion of committing such an offense are usually investigated by state or federal authorities before they are ever arrested. The typical scenario is that the accused will first receive a phone call to speak with a state or federal investigator; or, even more alarming, the police or FBI will execute a search warrant, unannounced, on the person's home or place of business. The agents then may attempt to bully or harass the person being searched into talking and making a statement or confession.

The best way to handle all of these situations is to call a lawyer immediately and never offer any information to the police or FBI. This information will be used against you and it will be allowed in at trial, because the court will say you are not yet in custody. Then, of course, once the police or FBI have questioned you and gotten the information they need, they then will turn around and arrest you. The client, therefore, needs to call his lawyer before the cow has left the proverbial barn, otherwise his lawyer may be unable to close the proverbial barn door later. Thus, in Georgia white collar criminal cases, it is critical for the person under investigation, to get legal help as soon as they are served with a subpoena, receive a phone call from an FBI agent or the local police, or find his/her home or business being searched by state or federal agents.

Fortunately, many times these cases can be dealt with through negotiations with the police and federal agents and the prosecutors involved in the investigation - usually the local district attorney's office or the US Attorney's Office. The goal is to get the case dismissed before the client is ever arrested. This is extremely critical as the client's entire career as a corporate or government officer may be on the line.

Mr. Conaway is a nationally recognized white collar crime attorney who represents clients on all types of state and federal white collar crime charges. As a former prosecutor, he is deeply familiar with the best ways of attacking the state's case, while also negotiating for a dismissal of the investigation before an arrest is ever made.

Attorney Dan Conaway focuses on white collar crime in his law practice, and his goal in all his cases is to make sure his clients are never arrested.

"You want to stop the investigation at the pre-arrest stage whenever possible," says Conaway, "before the embarrassment of the arrest and prosecution becomes public. Then, if the case is dismissed, that is the best possible outcome for the client. At the same time, if the case goes forward, then I am already prepared to defend my client in court, as I am now familiar with the prosecutor's case and have developed my client's defense. Room for negotiating a dismissal also still exists, as the lines of communication with the prosecutor's office have been well established."

Visit our Georgia White Collar Crime Defense Website for more information!