Financial and Accounting Fraud: A Case Study

Brendan Quigley is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, a U.S. Marine combat veteran, and an experienced first-chair trial lawyer. He helps business executives, boards of directors, and companies navigate both government investigations and commercial disputes. Chambers USA 2024 describes him as “uniquely calm and persuasive” and as providing “pragmatic, sound advice and prompt responses to questions.”

Government Investigations/Enforcement: Brendan's government investigations practice draws on his experience as a former senior member of the Southern District of New York's Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit and its Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. He focuses on matters involving the securities and commodities laws, international transactions, and the False Claims Act. He has represented clients in front of government regulators including the Department of Justice (including the Criminal Division Fraud Section, the Civil Division Fraud Section, the National Security Division, and numerous U.S. Attorney's Offices), the New York Attorney General, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He has also assisted clients in conducting anti-corruption and sanctions-related risk assessments in connection with acquisitions, new business ventures, and transactions with state-owned entities.

Commercial Disputes: Drawing on his experience of having a first-chair role in over a dozen trials, Brendan also represents clients as both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial disputes. These matters often involve complex transactions and/or allegations of fraud or corruption. In 2023, for example, Brendan prevailed at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery in a dispute among shareholders of a closely held corporation. In 2022, he was a key member of a team that prevailed in an intercreditor indenture litigation in federal bankruptcy court. In 2021, he successfully defeated a securities fraud lawsuit against a fintech company in New York state court.

Partner Margaret Gembala Nelson is the national chair of Foley & Lardner LLP’s Securities Enforcement & Litigation Practice Group. She represents accounting firms, financial service entities, corporations and their professionals in auditor liability matters, government enforcement investigations and examinations, and complex securities and business litigation.

Margaret has more than 20 years of experience as a regulatory and litigation lawyer focusing on complex securities, accounting, compliance, and commercial matters.

Prior to joining Foley, Margaret spent over five years as assistant general counsel for a large accounting firm where she oversaw all of the firm’s regulatory matters and much of its litigation across all business lines. In this role, she regularly interacted with the SEC, PCAOB, Department of Justice, CFTC, FDIC, Department of Labor, FINRA and various state agencies in connection with regulatory inquiries, investigations, and actions. Additionally, she routinely advised the firm on compliance, risk management, and inspection issues, gaining significant insight into the legal issues confronting the accounting industry.

Also before coming to Foley, Margaret worked at the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office for nine years as senior counsel. While there, she spearheaded numerous high-profile investigations and litigation involving a wide array of securities issues, including financial fraud, offering fraud, registration violations, broker-dealer misconduct, advisory conflicts of interest and insider trading, and often coordinated parallel investigations with other federal and state agencies, including the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, FINRA and the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Margaret was also a member of the Asset Management Unit, a national specialized unit within the SEC’s Enforcement Division that focuses on issues relating to investment advisers, investment companies and private funds.

Litigation Partner Jose Lopez emphasizes securities litigation in his national practice. He advises companies, officers, directors, and trustees in complicated securities litigation and enforcement matters, involving both federal and state regulators. Jose draws upon his experience as a former senior enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in representing his clients to achieve favorable results in civil securities proceedings and enforcement matters with the SEC, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Illinois Securities Department, and other state regulatory agencies. Jose has also tried civil matters in federal and state court and in confidential arbitration proceedings.

Jose was recently appointed a Cook County special state’s attorney to represent the Cook County Board of Ethics to investigate and litigate ethical conduct violations by a Cook County elected official. The matter was successfully concluded with the Cook County Board of Ethics achieving all requested relief. Jose also has extensive experience in internal corporate investigations, particularly investigations relating to alleged violations of federal and state securities laws. He has investigated a multinational company’s compliance with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bribery and books and records laws in Mexico, India, South Korea, Central America, South America, Europe, and South Africa.

During his tenure as a senior enforcement attorney with the SEC, Jose directed numerous high-profile investigations and litigations involving revenue recognition, financial statement and disclosure fraud, insider trading, prime bank schemes, and registration violations. He also served as a member of the SEC’s Cyberforce investigating claims of internet securities fraud.

Jose frequently speaks on panels regarding recent developments in securities litigation. The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Jose to successive annual terms as a member of its hearing panel, which hears contested cases and makes recommendations for the discipline of lawyers charged with misconduct by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois. Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court also appointed Jose for an annual term as a chair of its hearing panel.

As a former assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Jose successfully tried more than 40 cases and argued several cases before the Illinois Appellate Court.

Steven Richards is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura in the Washington, DC office. He has over 20 years of experience involving internal and forensic accounting investigations and analysis, issues surrounding Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board rules and standards, and independence matters. He has extensive litigation consulting, complex data analysis, forensic accounting, and auditing expertise. Steven has assisted in a variety of investigations, working with both internal and outside counsel in representing boards of directors, special committees, and senior management. These complex investigations have involved financial restatements, Section 10A examinations, and whistleblower allegations regarding revenue recognition (including premature revenue recognition practices such as revenue recognition where risk of loss had not passed to the customer, channel stuffing and bill-and-hold transactions), derivative financial instruments, securitizations, vendor allowances, inventory accounting, and other issues around the interpretation and application of GAAP and PCAOB standards.

David Glockner is Executive Vice President, Compliance, Audit & Risk, for Exelon Corporation and all of its operating companies. In that role, he is responsible for ensuring that the company and its employees remain in compliance with all laws, regulations, and internal and external policies affecting Exelon and its operating companies. In addition, he is the chief architect and steward of the company’s audit and compliance strategy and procedures, including overseeing efforts to create best-in-class standards for compliance, ethics and accountability and providing regular reports to the company’s Board of Directors and senior leadership.