John J. Carney
John J. Carney, a former Securities Fraud Chief, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Senior Counsel and practicing CPA, serves as co-leader of the firm’s national White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations group and focuses his practice in the following areas:
- Securities Regulatory Enforcement and Litigation Defense;
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance and Defense (FCPA);
- White Collar Corporate Investigations, Monitorships and Government Enforcement Defense;
- Healthcare Enforcement and Defense; and
- Complex Litigation.
A seasoned advocate, Mr. Carney provides representation to public corporations, their officers, directors and employees, regulated entities and others in SEC investigations and criminal law enforcement investigations, as well as in related civil litigation. Mr. Carney’s financial background and depth of experience in domestic and international regulatory and criminal enforcement matters and complex litigation have also caused him to be repeatedly retained by audit committees, corporations, and senior officers of major public companies to advise them during investigations and to design remedial compliance and corporate governance measures. These engagements have included successfully representing companies and individuals before the SEC and the Department of Justice in FCPA, accounting and corporate disclosure matters.
With respect to international matters, Mr. Carney has significant experience in conducting investigations of possible FCPA violations and other potentially improper foreign country-based financial transactions, including those involving alleged bribery and “facilitating payments.” Mr. Carney has also worked proactively with companies to structure and implement FCPA compliance programs that are designed to avoid potential violations and to lessen any government sanction should a FCPA violation occur.
In April 2006, Baker Hostetler was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to serve a three-year term as Independent Examiner of the Bank of New York. The Examinership is one of the terms of the government’s nonprosecution agreement with the bank over allegations that it was involved in fraud and money laundering and failed to comply with mandatory reporting guidelines under the Bank Secrecy Act. Mr. Carney’s responsibilities focus on overseeing the monitoring and testing of the bank’s anti-money-laundering and auditing integration programs. The Examinership Team reports directly to the United States Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the New York State Banking Department and to senior officials at the Bank of New York.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Carney served for more than 14 years with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Carney, as a Special Attorney under the authority of the U.S. Attorney General, led the government’s trial team in the $14 billion Cendant accounting and securities fraud case tried in federal district court in Connecticut. In January of 2005, after an eight-month trial, the jury convicted the former vice-chairman of Cendant on all counts, including conspiracy, securities fraud and submitting false filings to the SEC.
From 2002 to 2005, as the Chief of the Securities and Health Care Fraud Unit for the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, he was responsible for the administration and supervision of all securities and healthcare fraud investigations and prosecutions in the District. Under Mr. Carney’s direction, the unit successfully prosecuted numerous major corporate crimes, including financial statement and disclosure fraud by FORTUNE 500 companies and their senior officers. Working closely with the SEC, NYSE, NASD, CFTC, FBI, Postal Inspection Service, state securities regulators and other relevant agencies, Mr. Carney oversaw the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the District, securing the country’s first prosecution of a chief executive officer for violating the false financial statement certification provisions of the Act.
During his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Carney’s achievements as a white-collar prosecutor were repeatedly recognized. Among others, he was presented two Director’s Awards by the U.S. Attorney General on behalf of the Department of Justice, three letters of commendation from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Chief’s Award from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Carney also spent more than five years as a member of the Justice Department’s National Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Mid-Atlantic Enforcement Group, where he helped coordinate domestic and international investigations of corporate corruption involving securities fraud, FCPA violations, and disclosure violations.
As Senior Counsel with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C., Mr. Carney investigated and litigated violations of the federal securities laws, with a particular emphasis on complex financial fraud, M D & A disclosure violations, auditor misconduct, insider trading and improprieties in the government bond markets. As trial counsel for the Division of Enforcement, Mr. Carney successfully tried the SEC’s civil proceeding against the Bank of Boston for failing to disclose material inadequacies in the bank’s loan loss reserve. Mr. Carney was also primarily responsible for investigating the tax-related violations in the Salomon Brothers investigation, which resulted in the entry of an injunction and the imposition of a $290 million fine.
Mr. Carney has lectured extensively on the topics of securities fraud and litigating complex accounting cases at bar conferences, accounting societies, the Justice Department’s National Advocacy Center, the SEC’s Chief Enforcement Attorney Conference, as well as at national training seminars conducted for agents by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. He has also lectured at Georgetown University and has served as a contributing author for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant’s Examination.
Prior to attending law school, Mr. Carney worked for five years as a certified public accountant at a “big four” accounting firm where he provided audit and tax services to publicly held corporations.
Mr. Carney is a member of the American Bar Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has been rated AV, the highest peer review rating available, by Martindale-Hubbell, the authoritative resource for information on the legal profession.
Some of Mr. Carney’s publications include:
- co-author: “Insider Trading and Company Counsel: Why More Attorneys are Being Charged and What Companies Should Do to Prevent It,” New Jersey Law Journal and Law.com (July 2007)
- co-author: “McNulty Memo: Changes Game or Keeps Congress Out?” New York Law Journal (January 2007)
- co-author: “Amended Rule 408: Another Arrow For the Prosecution's Quiver?” New York Law Journal and Law.com (July 2006)
- author: “Death, Taxes & SEC Penalties,” Auditing News (February 2006)