SOLOMON L. WISENBERG

Biography

Solomon L. Wisenberg has extensive lead counsel experience in complex white collar criminal investigations and jury trials. His nationwide practice is primarily devoted to representing individuals and businesses exposed to federal criminal and regulatory inquiries or charged with federal crimes. His distinguished government career included serving as Deputy Independent Counsel, the number two position in the Whitewater/Lewinsky Investigation, and he was selected by Judge Kenneth Starr to conduct grand jury questioning of President Bill Clinton.

From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Wisenberg was Partner and Chair of the White Collar Crime Practice Group at the Washington, DC firm of Ross, Dixon & Bell. In 2004, he founded Solomon L. Wisenberg PLLC, a white collar boutique, where he served as Managing Member until 2008. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Wisenberg was Partner and Co-Chair of the White Collar Crime Defense Practice Group in the Washington, DC offices of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. On December 1, 2013, Mr. Wisenberg became a Partner in the Washington, DC offices of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. He is the Co-Chair of the White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Practice.

Since entering private practice, Mr. Wisenberg has successfully represented clients under investigation for public corruption (Hobbs Act), bribery, fraud (securities, bank, mail, tax, health care, FDA), foreign corrupt practices, false statements to government officials, arms export control act violations, theft of federal property, unlawful transportation of firearms, and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He has also conducted internal investigations and insurance coverage fraud inquiries for corporations and non-profits and has represented corporate employees during internal and governmental investigations.

Prior to his service with the Office of Independent Counsel, Mr. Wisenberg was Chief of the Financial Institution and Health Care Fraud Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. He directed approximately 75 to 100 criminal investigations during his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney in Texas and North Carolina.

Mr. Wisenberg’s two-year investigation of the Victoria Savings Association scandal, identified by Congress as a “Top 100” savings and loan failure causing $200 million in losses, resulted in the conviction of nine defendants (after a two-month jury trial). Mr. Wisenberg received the Director’s Award from Attorney General Janet Reno for his service in the Victoria Savings case.

Mr. Wisenberg has tried and won numerous other white collar cases, including U.S. v. CTI, Inc., a military contracts fraud case cited by the United States Air Force as one of its most significant matters of 1990, and U.S. v. RMI Services International, a three-month jury trial involving a $40 million international securities fraud. He also directed the Communicare Home Health Care investigation, a four-year health care fraud inquiry.

Because of his trial skills, Mr. Wisenberg was selected to serve as an instructor at the Department of Justice’s Trial Advocacy Institute. He was also a guest speaker at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. Mr. Wisenberg has lectured on federal white collar crime topics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas School of Law, the Georgetown University Law Center, the George Washington University Law School, George Mason University School of Law, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and American University. In 2007, Mr. Wisenberg was appointed Adjunct Professor of Law at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, and taught the course on Business Crimes. In 2012, he lectured at Stetson University School of Law’s White Collar Criminal Defense College. In 2013, Mr. Wisenberg spoke on federal sentencing strategy and tactics at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 9th Annual Defending the White Collar Case Seminar, held in Washington, DC.

A nationally recognized authority on federal criminal defense issues, Mr. Wisenberg is a repeat guest on CNBC, Wall Street Journal Live, and National Public Radio. He has also appeared on The Today Show, MSNBC, ABC’s World News Tonight, ABC’s Nightline, the CBS Morning News, CNN, and Fox News Network. Mr. Wisenberg’s book, White Collar Crime: Securities Fraud (3rd Ed., 2016), is published by Thomson Reuters–one of the world’s leading legal publishing houses.

Mr. Wisenberg’s articles, reviews, and op-ed pieces have been published in the Washington Post, the National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, the Wilson Quarterly and other leading journals, and he was the author of FindLaw’s annual summary of the Supreme Court’s criminal law and procedure decisions. He is a Contributing Editor to the White Collar Crime Prof Blog.

In the 1980s, Mr. Wisenberg served as Acting Special Counsel for Judicial Selection and Attorney-Advisor in the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy under United States Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Mr. Wisenberg is a 1980 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, and the school’s renowned Criminal Defense Clinic. He won his first jury trial while he was still a law student, securing an acquittal for a client charged with criminal assault. Mr. Wisenberg clerked for the Honorable Tom G. Davis on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Honorable J. Daniel Mahoney on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Education

  • The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas
    • J.D. – 1980
  • Washington University, St Louis, Missouri
    • A.B. – 1976

Bar Admission

  • Texas, 1980
  • Illinois, 1981
  • District of Columbia, 1999
  • U.S. District Court Western District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Court District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

Honors

  • Director’s Award, Executive Office of United States Attorneys
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Rated
  • Listed in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers

Published Works

  • Queen For A Day: The Dangerous Game of Proffers, Proffer Agreements and Proffer Letters

Classes & Seminars

  • Instructor, U.S. Department of Justice, Trial Advocacy Institute
  • Guest Speaker, White Collar Fraud, LBJ School of Public Affairs
  • Prosecutorial Ethics, Georgetown University School of Law

Representative Cases

  • U.S. v. CTI, Inc.
  • U.S. v. RMI Services International
  • U.S. v. Flores

Past Positions

  • Office of Independent Counsel – Whitewater Investigation, Deputy Independent Counsel
  • United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, Chief, Financial Institution and Health Care Fraud Unit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Hon. J. Daniel Mahoney, Law Clerk
  • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Hon. Tom G. Davis, Law Clerk
  • Ross, Dixon & Bell, Partner
  • Wisenberg & Wisenberg PLLC, Founder

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