Litigation and Investigations:

R. McConnell Group PLLC focuses on providing exceptional service to clients using an efficient and client-oriented platform. Clients love our work because it is bespoke and designed around their businesses. Each team member at the firm has a growth mindset with one focus—our clients. Our team is biased to action and obsessive about solving our clients’ problems.

Our lawyers have significant trial and regulatory experience, having participated in hundreds of trials and proceedings, conducting thousands of investigations, and maintaining long-standing relationships with local, state, U.S., and international regulators. As federal prosecutors, our lawyers learned to present complicated cases to juries and are recognized figures around the courthouse. We represent the world’s leading companies with their most sensitive legal issues.

As problem-solvers, we regularly assist clients with criminal and civil litigation matters, regulator inquiries, and sensitive internal investigations. In addition to outward-facing regulatory and trial work, our firm routinely conducts internal investigations for Fortune 500 companies, typically assisting with several investigations each year with an efficient team that provides practical advice to businesses—with great results.

Recently our firm handled the following matters:

• Investigation into “Houstongate,” widely reported in U.S. and Mexican media, where our firm found no relationship between the award of work by Pemex to our client, Baker Hughes, and the rental of a house by the President of Mexico’s son from a former Baker Hughes executive [link to press release].
• Representation of individual in sanctions investigation involving the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, the FBI, and the Department of Commerce.
• Defense of global freight forwarder in criminal and civil investigation involving the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection arising out of customs classification issues that spanned three years, reducing the potential penalty from over $5 million to less than $30,000, with a fraction of the fees charged by some multi-national firms.
• Defense of global oilfield services company from parallel civil and criminal investigations involving the FBI, Department of Commerce, and Defense Department resulting in no action against our client and licensing determinations of non-licensability for certain Russian products, prepared and submitted by our firm.
• Representation of global oilfield services company in connection with Conti Ransomware takeover effort.
• Criminal sanctions investigation resulting in the Department of Justice identifying our Fortune 500 oilfield services client as a witness.
• Representation of individuals in civil lawsuit involving business fraud and misappropriation – hired immediately before trial to prepare the case for trial and conduct the trial. The case settled in our client’s favor before trial.
• Representation of Fortune 100 energy company in civil cases against former employees involving theft of trade secrets, trespass, and other wrongful employee conduct (all cases resolved in our client’s favor).
• Numerous internal investigations involving internal theft, fraud, sanctions, customs, and bribery allegations.

In addition to these criminal and civil matters, our firm is often engaged to help clients with unique legal challenges in quasi-litigation—often after another firm cannot effectively solve the problem. For instance, recently our firm helped a biotechnology startup recover numerous devices as part of a dispute with an entity claiming to have a legal right to the equipment by identifying legal issues and negotiating release of the equipment. We have convinced employees to return stolen data and company property. Often our most significant successes involve resolving potential civil and criminal disputes out of court.

Our firm helps clients identify potential compliance enhancements following investigations using its database of thousands of policies, procedures, guidelines, standards, and other controls. The firm uses its experience dealing with regulators and deep knowledge of compliance systems to efficiently conduct investigations and provide practical advice on potential compliance enhancements. We have developed internal investigation guidelines and manuals for some of the world’s leading companies.

• Numerous criminal trials including matters involving money laundering, securities fraud, bank fraud, bribery and corruption, and other organized criminal activity.
• International internal investigations into corruption-related activities.
• Theft of trade secrets investigation for investment firm and global exploration & production company.
• Investigation into safety practices at worldwide refining company.
• Investigation and defense of regulated shipments under U.S. trade control laws.
• Investigation and defense of internal customs classification and billing processes.
• Defense of waste disposal company for federal immigration crimes.
• Defense of container company and owners for federal immigration crimes resulting in non-prosecution agreement for company and no charges against owners.
• Defense of manager at manufacturing company under investigation for violating federal immigration laws with no felony charges filed.
• Defense of executive at oilfield services manufacturing company under investigation for fraud with no charges filed.
• Defense of individuals and company in economic sanctions and money laundering investigation, including managing public relations issues with no charges filed.
• Representation of target in U.S. Department of Justice criminal fraud investigation resulting in non-prosecution agreement.
• Numerous investigations related to the “dark web,” cryptocurrency, corporate embezzlement, bank fraud, cyber intrusion, and energy sector matters.
• Representation of a non-profit service organization to investigate allegations of improprieties by high-level personnel.
• Representation of various global oilfield services companies in internal investigations abroad involving self-dealing and other offenses by company employees.