Brandon defends corporations, corporate executives and other public figures in serious criminal, regulatory, and administrative investigations conducted by the US Department of Justice, federal regulators, state attorneys general and local prosecutors.
He provides strategic counsel to clients across a variety of industries including, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, food and beverage, and energy and technology. His recent matters have involved investigations of financial fraud, public corruption, healthcare fraud, tax, immigration violations, import and customs issues, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
A significant portion of Brandon’s practice focuses on corporate compliance programs and conducting internal investigations. He has advised companies on compliance with deferred prosecution agreements and other settlements, FCPA and anti-corruption compliance and has conducted significant due diligence for major financial institutions related to oversight by financial regulators, including the OCC, CFPB and state attorneys general. His work in these areas has sent him to four continents, seven countries and throughout the United States.
Brandon regularly navigates clients on matters of federal and state criminal procedure, including grand jury subpoenas and testimony, search and seizure, restitution, and criminal and civil forfeiture.
Prior to joining McGuireWoods LLP, Brandon served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Richmond and was cross designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, trying more than twenty jury trials in federal and state court. He worked closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute criminal offenses and led federal, state, and multi-jurisdictional grand jury investigations.
PRO BONO
Brandon devotes considerable time to pro bono representation and community involvement and is the immediate past Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Virginia Bar Association.
Experience
- Counsel to The Boeing Company in investigation related to the 737 MAX resulting in a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ.
- Represented numerous healthcare professionals in various healthcare fraud, prescribing, anti-kickback and false claims act investigations conducted by the Department of Justice.
- Obtained a declination from the DOJ Tax Division following a seven-year criminal investigation of a risk management and insurance consultancy.
- Represented numerous public officials in a grand jury investigation in the WDVA related to allegations of bribery and conflict of interest.
- Successfully defended an elected Sheriff in a federal grand jury investigation concerning civil rights violations and perjury.
- Represented an elected Mayor in a joint state and federal investigation related to alleged conflicts of interest violations.
- Represented former executives of a mortgage originator in a mortgage backed securities fraud investigation conducted by the DOJ.
- Represented a life sciences consultancy in parallel FTC and DOJ criminal investigations related to pharmaceutical “product hopping.”
- Represented a leading produce grower in a federal immigration prosecution in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
- Successfully defended numerous NFL players charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses in Virginia and negotiated with the NFL to mitigate sanctions.
- Conducted pre-merger FCPA and anticorruption review of a leading global medical device manufacturer, focusing on the company’s operations in Brazil, China, Columbia and South Korea.
- Conducted an FCPA and anticorruption audit of a global food processor’s operations in the United States, Mexico, Poland and Romania.
- Led a nation-wide internal review of debt collection practices and compliance with consumer financial regulations for a major financial services institution in response to OCC consent order.
- Pro bono representation of a prisoner in a federal civil rights complaint against state correctional officers in a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
- Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption (FCPA)
- Bank Defense and Counseling
- False Claims Act Investigations, Litigation and Enforcement
- Financial Services Litigation
- Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation
- Healthcare Enforcement
- Immigration
- Securities Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling
- Crisis Management & Incident Response
- Federal Tax Controversy and Litigation
- State Attorneys General
- Strategic Risk & Crisis Management
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University of Richmond School of LawJD
cum laude, Order of the Barristers, Member, University of Richmond Law Review
2007 - University of VirginiaBAAmerican Politics2004
Named to “Legal Elite,” Criminal Law, Virginia Business, 2016, 2017, 2019-2021, 2023
- Author, AI Risk and Whistleblower Protection Spotlighted in DOJ’s Revised Corporate Compliance Guidance, Subject to Inquiry, October 3, 2024
- Author, Deputy Attorney General Monaco Announces New DOJ Whistleblower Program, Subject to Inquiry, March 8, 2024
- Author, “There are Cops on the Beat”: DOJ’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force Leader Emphasizes Criminal Antitrust as Top Enforcement Priority, Subject to Inquiry, October 2, 2023
- Author, DOJ Announces Program Incentivizing Clawbacks of Compensation, Subject to Inquiry, March 6, 2023
- Author, New Incentives Added to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement Policy, Subject to Inquiry, January 20, 2023
- Author, New California Law Bans Tech Companies From Disclosing Data for State Abortion Investigations, Subject to Inquiry, September 30, 2022
- Author, Update: Pain Management or Pill Mill? Top Court Weighs Standards for Prosecuting Practitioners, Subject to Inquiry, March 11, 2022
- Author, Pain Management or Pill Mill? Supreme Court to Weigh in on Standards for Prosecutions of Practitioners Prescribing Narcotics, Subject to Inquiry, February 25, 2022
- Contributing Author, “Chapter 7: Quarantines and Other Governmental Restrictions", Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law & Procedure, February 2021
- Author, Supreme Court to Resolve CFAA Circuit Split, Subject to Inquiry, June 22, 2020
- Contributor, "DOJ Policy Shift Returns Discretion to Prosecutors," Corporate Counsel Business Journal, March-April 2019
- Author, Yates Memo Revised – DOJ Steps Back From All-or-Nothing Approach to Corporate Cooperation Credit, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, December 5, 2018
- Author, CFPB Again Challenges Meaningful Attorney Involvement, Subject to Inquiry, January 24, 2017
- Author, House Financial Services Committee Takes Aim at the CFPB, Subject to Inquiry, September 26, 2016
- Author, High Court Adopts Out-of-District Electronic Searches, Subject to Inquiry, May 17, 2016
- Author, The House Has Voted: Auto Lenders Prevail Over CFPB, Subject to Inquiry, December 7, 2015
- Author, House Bills Tackle Overcriminalization, Subject to Inquiry, November 30, 2015
- Author, Supreme Court Strikes Down Warrantless Searches of Hotel Guest Registries, Subject to Inquiry, June 29, 2015
- Author, Agency Cooperation in Fair Lending Enforcement, Subject to Inquiry, April 23, 2015
- Author, New York, Zombie Debt and the CFPB, Subject to Inquiry, December 22, 2014
- Author, Not Every Payment to a Foreign Official is a Bribe, Subject to Inquiry, May 20, 2014
- Author, DPAs, NPAs and the Hybrid Corporate Monitor, Subject to Inquiry, December 17, 2013
- Author, Extractive Industry Continues to be a Focus of Anticorruption Enforcement, Subject to Inquiry, April 19, 2013
- Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
- Moderator, "Perspectives on the Emerging Marijuana Industry: What Your Business Clients Should Know about the Regulatory Environment and Effects on Commerce," Virginia Bar Association, July 19, 2019
- Moderator, "Federal and State Responses to the Opioid Crisis," White Collar Criminal Law Forum, Virginia Bar Association, October 16, 2018
- Speaker, "Internal Investigations & Employees," Association of Legal Administrators, October 18, 2017
- Moderator, "Public Corruption Today…How Do You Define Corruption?," White Collar Criminal Law Forum, Virginia Bar Association, October 17, 2017
- Panelist, "Efforts by the State and the Feds to Curb the Lucrative Crime of Cigarette Trafficking," Virginia Bar Association, Summer Meeting, July 21, 2017
- Presenter, "The New Frontier of I-9 and E-Verify Compliance and Its Widespread Impact on Firm Clients," McGuireWoods LLP, December 13, 2016
- Moderator, "Federal and State White Collar Enforcement," North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association Clean Energy CLE, October 13, 2016
- Moderator, "Federal and State Responses to the Opioid Crisis," White Collar Criminal Law Forum, The Virginia Bar Association, October 16, 2018
- Speaker, "Internet Gambling: New Technologies & New Risks," Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) chapter meeting, October 6, 2016