Practice Area

Corporate Internal Investigations

When a government investigation opens or a board needs answers, the decisions made in the first days define everything that follows. Khalil Kinchen brings the investigative instincts of a former federal prosecutor and the defense experience of a former federal public defender to every matter—on the same team, working for you.

Overview

The investigation has started. What happens next depends on who is controlling it.

When a government investigation opens or a board commissions an internal review, the legal decisions made in the first days are rarely reversible. Documents are preserved or lost. Witnesses are interviewed or allowed to speak to the government first. Privilege frameworks are established or neglected. Cooperation postures are set before the full picture is understood. The companies and individuals that emerge from investigations with the best outcomes share a common characteristic: they engaged experienced counsel immediately and controlled the process from the outset.

Khalil Kinchen advises companies, boards, executives, and individuals in government investigations and corporate internal investigations. We bring a structural advantage that most firms cannot offer — a former federal prosecutor and a former federal public defender working together on every matter. When we assess how a government investigation will develop, we draw on the experience of counsel who has built those cases. When we protect individuals whose interests diverge from the company's, we draw on the experience of counsel who has defended clients against the full weight of federal prosecution. Both perspectives operate in every investigation we handle — including when the company's interests and the individual's interests point in different directions and each requires independent counsel.

Government Investigation & Internal Investigation Services

  • Federal grand jury subpoena response and defense

  • DOJ, SEC, IRS, EPA, CFTC, and FERC investigation defense

  • Civil investigative demands and regulatory inquiry response

  • Board and audit committee internal investigations

  • Whistleblower complaint response and internal investigation

  • FCPA internal investigations and voluntary disclosure analysis

  • False Claims Act and qui tam internal investigation

  • Employee and executive misconduct investigations

  • Environmental compliance and criminal referral defense

  • Health care fraud and anti-kickback internal review

  • Government contractor compliance investigations

  • Parallel civil and criminal investigation coordination

  • Cooperation strategy and proffer agreement negotiation

  • Declination and deferred prosecution negotiation

  • Individual target and subject representation

How We Approach Investigations

Our Method

Immediate Threat Assessment

The first call sets the trajectory. We assess criminal referral risk, parallel agency coordination, document preservation obligations, and individual exposure before any response is made. What you produce, what you say, and to whom you say it in the opening days of an investigation shapes the government's theory of the case. We get ahead of that before it hardens.

Privilege Architecture & Document Preservation

Internal investigations live or die on privilege. We establish the attorney-client and work product framework from the outset—defining the scope of the investigation, issuing litigation holds, and structuring communications so that the investigation's findings remain protected. Poorly structured internal investigations become roadmaps for the government. Ours do not.

Government Engagement Strategy

How and when a company engages with the government during an investigation is a strategic decision with lasting consequences. We counsel clients on whether to cooperate, how to structure cooperation, what to produce voluntarily and what to contest, and when proactive engagement with prosecutors or regulators changes outcomes. We have been on the other side of those conversations. We know what the government values and what it does not.

Remediation & Compliance Reform

Governments reward companies that take misconduct seriously and fix the conditions that allowed it. We advise on remediation measures, compliance program enhancements, and internal disciplinary actions that demonstrate institutional accountability—the kind of response that supports declination arguments and deferred prosecution negotiations.

Forensic & Document Review

Modern investigations are document-intensive. We work with leading forensic accountants, e-discovery specialists, and technical experts to identify, preserve, and analyze the electronic and documentary record.

Parallel Individual Representation

Company investigations and individual interests do not always align. When employees, officers, or executives become subjects or targets of the same investigation the company is navigating, they need independent counsel. We represent both companies and the individuals those investigations implicate—in separate engagements where interests diverge, with the experience to manage both sides of that dynamic.

Witness Interview Strategy

Internal witness interviews are among the most consequential steps in any investigation. We conduct interviews with the discipline and preparation of experienced trial lawyers—identifying what each witness knows, locking in consistent accounts, and evaluating credibility before the government has the opportunity to do the same. We also provide Upjohn warnings properly and advise individuals on whether they need separate counsel.

Voluntary Disclosure Analysis

In FCPA matters, False Claims Act cases, and certain regulatory investigations, voluntary self-disclosure can meaningfully reduce exposure—or create it, if handled incorrectly. We analyze disclosure obligations carefully, advise on the costs and benefits of proactive disclosure, and structure any disclosure to maximize credit while limiting the scope of the government's investigation.

Notable Client Outcomes

Track Record

Declination

Transocean — DOJ Criminal Investigation, Macondo Oil Spill

Played a central role in both the internal investigation and the government investigation defense arising from the Macondo oil spill—one of the most high-profile environmental and corporate investigations in U.S. history. Deeply involved in the privileged internal investigation conducted parallel to the DOJ, EPA, and Coast Guard criminal inquiry.

Declination

FCPA — Multinational Engineering Company

Conducted and managed the defense of an internal investigation on behalf of a multinational energy corporation facing alleged FCPA violations. Secured declination from the DOJ following sustained pre-charge engagement and a structured cooperation strategy.

Declination

FCPA — CEO of Multinational Corporation

Represented the CEO of a multinational corporation in a DOJ investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Client avoided criminal charges following a targeted defense strategy built around the investigation's factual record.

Declination

FCPA — Multinational Energy Company

Conducted and managed the defense of an internal investigation on behalf of a multinational energy corporation facing alleged FCPA violations. Secured declination from the DOJ following sustained pre-charge engagement and a structured cooperation strategy.

Internal Investigation

Fortune 10 Companies — Corporate Malfeasance

Managed multiple internal investigations on behalf of Fortune 10 companies involving allegations of corporate malfeasance, financial irregularities, and employee misconduct. Each investigation was structured to preserve privilege, satisfy board obligations, and position the company favorably in the event of subsequent government inquiry.

Internal Investigation

EEOC – National Home-Improvement Company

Internal investigation of discrimination claims on behalf of national home-improvement company accused of violations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Internal Investigation

Houston-based Industrial Company

Hired by in-house counsel to conduct interviews of multiple employees and investigate claims of work-place discrimination. Prepared internal report of factual findings.

Avoided Charges

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act — Food Manufacturer Executive

Helped an executive of a prominent food manufacturer avoid criminal charges related to alleged violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The result required early intervention and a disciplined response to a government inquiry that could have escalated to indictment.

Client Experience

What You Can Expect from Khalil Kinchen

  • Prosecutor Instincts on Your Side

    Understanding how the government builds a case is not an abstract advantage—it is the difference between an investigation that ends in declination and one that ends in indictment. Our former federal prosecutor brings first-hand knowledge of how DOJ, SEC, and other agencies prioritize matters, develop evidence, and decide whether to charge. That knowledge shapes every decision we make on your behalf.

  • Defense Experience That Protects

    Companies and individuals do not always have aligned interests in an investigation. Our former federal public defender brings a career of protecting individual rights in the most adversarial of circumstances. When employees, officers, or executives need independent counsel—or when the company's cooperation strategy puts individuals at risk—we bring that advocacy to bear with the same rigor we apply to the institutional client.

  • Privilege Protection That Holds

    The attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine are the most important tools available to a company under investigation. We structure investigations to protect them from the outset—not as an afterthought. Our privilege frameworks have withstood government challenge and litigation scrutiny in complex multi-agency investigations.

  • Board and Audit Committee Representation

    Boards and audit committees have distinct legal obligations when investigations arise. We represent boards directly—advising on disclosure obligations, D&O coverage, indemnification decisions, and the duty to investigate—while managing the operational investigation simultaneously. Directors who retain us individually receive independent advice that accounts for their personal exposure.

  • Multi-Agency Coordination

    Federal investigations rarely involve a single agency. DOJ and SEC investigations run in parallel. IRS criminal referrals follow civil audits. EPA criminal divisions coordinate with civil enforcement. We have navigated multi-agency matters across every major federal enforcement body and understand how each agency's approach affects the others.

  • Sector-Specific Investigation Experience

    We bring deep familiarity with the industries that federal agencies investigate most aggressively: energy, health care, financial services, and construction. That sector knowledge accelerates our fact development, improves our assessment of agency theories, and sharpens our engagement with prosecutors and regulators who specialize in those industries.

Why Khalil Kinchen

We know how the government builds these cases. Because we built them.

Corporate internal investigations are not conducted in a vacuum — they unfold in the shadow of a potential government investigation, and every decision made in the internal process affects what happens if and when the government arrives. The most valuable counsel in that environment is not simply an experienced investigator. It is an experienced investigator who understands precisely how federal prosecutors evaluate corporate misconduct, what triggers criminal referral, and what a cooperation strategy looks like from the other side of the table.

Khalil Kinchen brings that perspective to every internal investigation we conduct. Our federal prosecution background — including hands-on involvement in one of the most complex corporate criminal investigations in modern American history — informs how we structure investigations, preserve privilege, and engage with government investigators when the time comes. When individual employees or executives need independent counsel whose obligations run to them rather than the company, our federal public defender experience provides the individual defense depth that corporate investigations increasingly require.

What sets up apart:

Former Federal Prosecutor  —  First-hand knowledge of how DOJ, SEC, and federal agencies build and decide cases

FCPA Investigation Depth —  Internal investigation and criminal defense experience at the highest level of corporate crisis

Individual Defense —  Federal public defender experience for employees and executives who need independent counsel

Where We Go Deeper

FCPA Investigation Depth

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations are among the most complex and consequential that companies face. They involve multiple jurisdictions, international evidence gathering, multi-agency coordination between the DOJ and SEC, and voluntary disclosure decisions that carry enormous consequences. We have conducted and defended FCPA investigations at the highest levels—for multinational corporations, their executives, and individuals implicated in foreign bribery schemes.

Whistleblower & False Claims Act Response

Whistleblower complaints—whether filed under the SEC's whistleblower program, the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions, or OSHA retaliation frameworks—require immediate, structured response. We advise companies on their investigative obligations, and conduct privileged internal reviews while managing the underlying government inquiry the whistleblower has triggered.

Cooperation Credit That Makes a Difference

The DOJ's cooperation credit framework, the SEC's cooperation policy, and equivalent programs at other agencies reward companies that investigate misconduct thoroughly, remediate effectively, and engage transparently with the government. We have secured declinations and deferred prosecution arrangements for clients who earned cooperation credit through disciplined internal investigations and strategic government engagement. We know what that process requires—and what it takes to make it work.

Take The First Step

The investigation has already started. The question is who controls it.

Government investigations do not pause while companies deliberate about counsel. Every day without experienced investigation counsel is a day the government spends building its case without a credible counterweight.