Responding to Business Crimes Investigations

In GCs and Business Managers Play Crucial Role in Responding to Business Crimes Investigations the author, a former deputy attorney general of the United States, observes that :

"enforcement authorities examine in every case both affirmative steps taken immediately to cooperate and, conversely, any efforts to obstruct their investigations. Failure to cooperate can harden prosecutors' attitudes significantly and render a bad situation even worse. Any defense strategy ought to account for this fact and recognize that prosecutors will respect a vigorous defense, but only when it is made in the context of, or after, cooperation in the fact-gathering stage. It is now very obvious that dilatory and delaying tactics, if coupled with a corrupt motive, in responding to an investigation may well lead to an obstruction investigation and a prosecution, previously relatively rare occurrences...

Where a company ends up has as much to do with how it manages the response to a business-crime challenge as it does with the attitude and policies of prosecutors."

The message: retain an experienced lawyer from the start, before you give an interview which may embarass you later on.