Michelle B. Karavas

Michelle represents corporations and individuals in civil and criminal litigation and government investigations, internal investigations, and congressional investigations involving the False Claims Act (FCA), fraud, insider trading, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), bribery, and other complex issues. She also has extensive eDiscovery experience, including collecting, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information (ESI).

Representative Matters

• Won outright dismissal of all 10 counts in criminal prosecution of 2017 Inauguration Day protester after obtaining sanctions for Brady violations against the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
• Defends government contractors in FCA litigations involving allegations of fraud, human trafficking, and RICO related to international performance of U.S. government contracts.
• Assists government contractors and executives with Civil Investigative Demand responses and testimony in investigations involving allegations of FCA and Anti-Kickback Act violations, including 8(a) set-aside subcontractor performance issues.
• Conducts internal investigations for companies to assess allegations of misconduct, evaluate potential exposure, and advise on appropriate disclosures or corrective actions, including issues of FCA violations, bid rigging, cyber hacking, conflicts of interest, money laundering, diverting federal procurement funds, and self-dealing.
• Represents companies and executives in civil and criminal U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations involving alleged antitrust, wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy offenses.
• Represented individuals in DOJ and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) FCPA investigations involving South American and Mexican entities.
• Defended a U.S. Senator, a U.S. House of Representatives Chief of Staff, and executives in insider trading investigations by the DOJ, SEC, Senate Ethics Committee, and New York Attorney General’s Office.
• Represented companies and their executives in RICO litigations involving alleged underlying racketeering acts including wire fraud, extortion, and cyber hacking.
• Defended companies and their executives in civil litigations involving allegations of fraud, cyber hacking, improper payments, and business torts.

Professional Experience

• Research Assistant, Professor Roger Trangsrud, The George Washington University Law School (2016-2017)
• Law Clerk, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Criminal Division, Fraud and Public Corruption Section (2016)
• Legal Intern, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Public Safety Division, Juvenile Section (2015)
• Judicial Intern, the Honorable Alan Kay, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (2015)

Affiliations

• Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA)
• Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia (HBA-DC)

• Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA)

• American Bar Association (ABA)
  • Section of Litigation, White Collar & Criminal Litigation Committee
  • Section of Public Contract Law, Procurement Fraud and False Claims Committee
  • Criminal Justice Section, White Collar Crime Committee

• District of Columbia Bar (D.C. Bar)

  • Criminal Law and Individual Rights Community
  • Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Community
  • Litigation Community