Internal Investigations

An internal investigation can become consequential before anyone knows where it will lead. An executive is asked to meet with company counsel. An employee receives a request for emails, text messages, or devices. A professional learns of a complaint alleging fraud, theft, harassment, discrimination, or other misconduct. The matter may stay internal, or it may develop alongside regulatory, licensing, civil, or criminal exposure.

For the person being interviewed or investigated, the important questions are often immediate: What am I being accused of? Who does the investigator represent? What documents have already been collected? Could information from this process be provided to the government or another outside authority?

Bedi & Singer represents individuals in internal investigations, including professionals, executives, students, athletes, and others facing allegations ranging from financial fraud to sexual harassment and other misconduct.

An internal investigation is often conducted for an employer, institution, board, or organization by in-house counsel, outside counsel, human resources, compliance personnel, or another designated decision-maker. The process may be fair, but the organization’s objective is to understand and respond to its own risk.

The individual may have separate concerns involving reputation, employment, professional licensing, contractual rights, civil claims, or possible criminal exposure. Independent counsel can help the individual make informed decisions about interviews, document requests, and communications without assuming that company counsel is providing personal legal advice.

Some investigations concern employment or professional conduct only. Others arise from allegations that could also interest law enforcement, regulators, licensing bodies, schools, or governing boards. A statement given to a company or institution is not testimony in court, but the factual record created during an internal process can affect what happens later.

The Department of Justice adopted a department-wide corporate enforcement policy that can provide significant benefits to qualifying companies that voluntarily disclose criminal misconduct, cooperate, and remediate. That policy is directed at companies, not at guaranteeing an outcome for an individual employee, and a company may decide that cooperation with federal authorities is in its interest.

Not every internal investigation will become a government investigation. But when allegations involve fraud, bribery, financial misconduct, obstruction, false statements, or another potential crime, it can be important to consider that possibility early.

The appropriate response depends on the investigation and the individual’s role: who is conducting it, what allegations are being examined, whether the individual is a witness or a subject of concern, and what information the investigators already have. Practical issues may include:

• Understanding who the investigators and lawyers represent
• Reviewing the scope of an interview before participating, where possible
• Identifying documents, messages, or records that provide important context
• Preserving relevant information and avoiding actions that could be misinterpreted
• Evaluating criminal, regulatory, licensing, or reputational exposure
• Coordinating with separate criminal defense counsel when government contact has already occurred
• Making sure the individual’s account is accurate, complete, and grounded in the available record

Bedi & Singer represents the individual, not the company, and evaluates the investigation from that person’s perspective. Bedi & Singer has represented executives, professionals, athletes, students, and others in internal investigations involving allegations from financial fraud to sexual harassment. Bedi & Singer also represents clients in federal criminal investigations, which can be important when an internal matter creates potential government exposure.

Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer work together on serious matters, evaluate the factual record independently, and explain to clients not only what steps are being taken but why.