Proven Counsel in State & Federal Courts
Charges and investigations of fraud and other financial crimes require the intervention of a Houston white collar crime attorney who knows the intricacies of the law and can deal with the myriad of complex issues that may affect your career, your company, your personal life, and your very freedom.
"It was unbelievably reassuring the reception Mr. Cogdell gets when entering the court room. I knew I was in good hands." - Former Client
Cogdell Law Firm is widely known for our success in handling white collar crime cases. Our founder and principal attorney, Dan Cogdell, primarily focuses on this key practice area. Over the past 36 years, he has built a reputation as a “Texas trial legend” and has successfully litigated some of the most complicated, high-profile white collar crime cases in the country. This has included “not guilty” verdicts in the Enron litigation, Branch Davidian trial, and Houston City Hall bribery case.
Put a powerful force in your corner in the face of white collar crime charges. Call (713) 426-2244 today.
Understanding White Collar Crimes
The term “white collar crime” can encompass a wide variety of different charges. Below are some examples of the types of cases we can handle:
- Bank fraud;
- Bribery;
- Embezzlement;
- Insider trading;
- Insurance fraud;
- Health care fraud;
- Mail fraud;
- Money laundering;
- Mortgage fraud;
- Ponzi schemes;
- Racketeering/RICO violations;
- Securities fraud; and
- Wire fraud.
What Makes a Particular Crime "White Collar?"
When business or government officials lie, cheat or steal, this is known as white collar crime, a term synonymous with a wide range of frauds and scams that cost companies, individuals and investors billions of dollars every year.
In a nutshell, white collar crime refers to deceptive acts that are designed to produce some type of financial gain. White collar offenses are financial crimes and do not involve any violent or drug-related criminal behavior; in fact, many perpetrators of white collar crimes are typically involved in legal businesses and may even be well-respected members of the business community.
White collar crimes are prosecuted by federal authorities — the FBI, IRS, SEC, Secret Service, U.S. Customs, etc. — with substantial resources at their disposal to pursue suspects. As a result, the federal conviction rates for white collar crimes are high and sentences tend to be fairly lengthy when compared with those for non-financial crimes. In addition, most states empower state agencies to investigate and enforce white collar statutes at the state level.
Individuals or companies suspected of committing a white collar crime usually become aware they are the target of a federal or state investigation well before any arrest is made. This provides subjects of white collar investigations with the opportunity to help mitigate any potential criminal charges by hiring an experienced white collar defense attorney early on in the investigative process.
White collar criminal defense cases are often lengthy and complex, touching broadly on diverse aspects of the law. This gives the prosecutor more strategic options and creates potential pitfalls for inexperienced defense attorneys. Our decades of accumulated experience have helped our Houston white collar crime lawyers hone our approach to one that is most protective of your interests while remaining flexible enough to address even the most clever prosecutorial strategies.
What Is at Stake?
Being properly represented in a federal white collar prosecution can mean protecting a business, salvaging a life savings, and even avoiding decades in prison. An indictment may be the result of years of investigative work by multiple federal agents. The end product of the agents' work often includes wiretapped phones, searches of homes or businesses, volumes of emails, and former co-workers or friends who have been converted into cooperating witnesses.
At trial, the government will typically hire expert witnesses and sponsor the testimony of cooperating persons who will be named as co-conspirators to the alleged crimes. Facts might be represented in an entirely different way than you recall in efforts by a prosecutor highly motivated to obtain a conviction.
Beating the Government at Trial
Over the past 30 years, Dan Cogdell has built a proven and singular track record of success in defending white collar criminal cases. He has fought for his clients and defeated the government in some of the most important cases in Texas and across the nation.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the national savings and loan crisis hit Texas, spurring what was then a groundbreaking slew of prosecutions aimed at white collar defendants. Dan went to work, representing the owner of Continental Savings and Loan to a “not guilty” verdict at trial. He went on to win acquittals for several other clients in subsequent years. In one case, The Oxford Funding Trial, Dan not only obtained an acquittal of all charges against his client based on prosecutorial misconduct, both the lead prosecutor and the lead agent for the Government were held in contempt. In the early 2000s, Houston was ground zero for criminal prosecutions tied to the collapse of Enron. Dan Cogdell is the only attorney who won his client's acquittal on all charges at their first trial.
Cogdell has evolved into one of the best at his craft in destroying the government's case by simplifying complex transactions in a way that not only does the jury truly understand what happened and whereby the issues are resolved in the client's favor.
Minimizing the Impact in the Worst Cases
Our Houston white collar crime lawyers start every case with a plan to fight to the end. Depending on our careful review of the evidence and after repeated client consultations to understand the factual contours of a case, we will sometimes determine that it is in our client's best interest to resolve the case without trial. In these cases, Dan Cogdell has subtracted years off of his clients' sentences and saved them millions of dollars in restitution.
Dan Cogdell negotiated a 3-year sentence for the Chief Investment Officer of Stanford International Bank, a $7 billion Ponzi scheme that led to a 110-year prison sentence for its leader Allen Stanford. Significantly, Dan's client did not have to cooperate with the government to achieve this negotiated deal.
Dan Cogdell represented a high-ranking officer at Enron and negotiated for him to keep tens of millions of dollars from restitution and forfeiture by the government. As in the Stanford case, Cogdell's client received the lowest sentence of any of the defendants in that matter, served less than two years, and also was not required to forfeit tens of millions of dollars. Many of his co-defendants received sentences approaching twenty years and forfeited all of their financial assets.
Mr. Cogdell and his firm offer you over three decades of experience in successfully defending white collar cases. He and his team will handle your case giving it all the attention it deserves.
To arrange for an immediate consultation and evaluation, call us at (713) 426-2244 today.