Practice area
White collar defense
These cases are usually known about long before they are charged. The window to change the outcome is the investigation, not the trial.
Class 1 misdemeanor up to a class 2 felony, with parallel regulatory exposure
What a white collar case actually involves
Forgery, embezzlement, securities offenses, insurance fraud, tax matters and computer crime share one feature: someone has been looking at documents for months before anyone knocks. By the time a grand jury subpoena or a target letter lands, the record is already built.
That is also the opportunity. A white collar matter can frequently be resolved, narrowed or declined at the investigation stage through a pre-filing submission, a proffer negotiated with a clear immunity framework, or a restitution structure agreed before charges are filed.
Colorado matters often run in parallel with a regulatory or licensing proceeding, a civil suit and sometimes a federal inquiry. Each of those can generate sworn statements usable in the others. Sequencing them is a large part of the defense.
The counts that get filed
| Count | Level | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Forgery | Class 5 felony | Class 5 for most instruments; government instruments and some financial documents are treated more seriously. |
| Theft by an employee | Graded on the dollar ladder | Embezzlement is charged under the general theft statute in Colorado. |
| Securities fraud | Class 3 felony | Colorado Securities Act, C.R.S. 11-51-501 and 11-51-603. |
| Insurance fraud | Class 5 felony | Includes both claim fraud and application fraud. |
| Computer crime | Petty offense to class 3 felony | Graded on loss value under C.R.S. 18-5.5-102. |
| Money laundering | Class 3 felony | Often charged alongside the predicate offense rather than instead of it. |
Where these cases break
Not every one applies to every file. The first job is working out which two or three do.
Intent
Most of these offenses require knowing or intentional conduct. Poor bookkeeping, a genuine accounting dispute and reliance on professional advice are not crimes.
Reliance on counsel or accountant
Documented advice, followed in good faith, is a recognised route to negating intent.
Authority
In employee cases the question is frequently what the person was actually authorised to do, which is a contract and practice question before it is a criminal one.
Loss calculation
Loss drives the grading. Netting, offsets and double counting in a forensic accounting report are routinely wrong.
Privilege and scope
Subpoenas and search warrants for business records regularly sweep in privileged material. That is litigable and sometimes fatal to the case.
Pre-filing resolution
A submission to the filing deputy with an independent forensic report and a restitution plan, before a decision is made.
What happens, and when
On first contact
All employee and investigator communication routed through counsel immediately. No interviews without a framework.
Weeks one to four
Independent forensic accountant retained under privilege; document hold put in place.
Months one to four
Pre-filing submission, or proffer negotiation with written immunity terms.
If charged
Parallel management of the licensing and civil matters so that nothing said in one damages another.
The attorneys on these cases
Priya Raghunathan
Partner, federal practice
Formerly: Assistant United States Attorney, District of Colorado
Federal cases are decided in the presentence report far more often than in the courtroom.
What people ask us about this
If your question is not here, ask it on the call. There is no charge for the first conversation and it is with an attorney.
Start a case reviewNot without counsel, and usually not at all until we know whether you are a witness, a subject or a target. That single question changes the entire approach, and it can be asked on your behalf without committing you to anything.
Sometimes. Restitution paid or structured before a filing decision removes the most persuasive argument for charging, particularly with a first offense and a documented accounting dispute. It is never a guarantee, and it should never be paid without advice about how it will be characterised.
A negotiated interview where what you say cannot generally be used directly against you, subject to strict written limits. Those limits have exceptions that trap people who walk in without them explained. It is not a conversation to have unprepared.
It can. Wire and mail usage, interstate movement, federally insured institutions and tax all create federal hooks. We assess that at the outset, because the strategy for a case that may be adopted federally is different from the start.
If any of this is happening to you, the first conversation is free and it is with an attorney.
Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.