Photo of William C. Athanas

Bill Athanas represents companies and individuals in government enforcement matters, focusing on federal grand jury investigations. He has almost 30 years of white-collar experience, roughly a third of which was spent as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. and Birmingham. Bill has handled hundreds of complex criminal cases and represented clients in all facets of those matters – whether as subjects, targets or witnesses, or those who simply receive subpoenas for documents.

Mandatory disclosure obligations significantly changed for federal grant recipients, sub-recipients, and applicants on October 1, 2024. The amended federal regulation establishing these mandatory disclosures (2 C.F.R. § 200.113) not only expands the scope of conduct that must be reported but it also lowers the standard of evidence triggering the mandatory disclosure. The regulation, which is

The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” represents the figurative irony that results when one seeking to help gets penalized instead. United States v. Moore, a recent decision from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, reflects the court’s concern that the expression had been interpreted as a literal directive by a prosecutor in

Companies who submit healthcare claims to private payors, provide financial services to customers, interact with domestic or foreign public officials, or otherwise operate in highly regulated industries should take note that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken another significant step in its ongoing effort to encourage new whistleblowers with information about potential corporate criminal

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines play an enormous role in federal sentencing. While courts are not required to follow the guidelines, the guidelines remain the starting point for determining a defendant’s ultimate sentence. For that reason, amendments to the guidelines are equally significant.

New Proposed Guideline Amendments

Recently, the United States Sentencing Commission — the body

At last week’s sentencing of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the government recommended a 36-month prison sentence. Despite the serious nature of Zhao’s crimes – failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, which enabled users to engage in transactions linked to narcotics, terrorist financing and child sex abuse, among others – the court imposed a

 On April 15, the U.S. Department of Justice released The Criminal Division’s Pilot Program on Voluntary Self-Disclosures for Individuals (the “Pilot”) designed to encourage individuals to report certain types of criminal activity in return for protection from prosecution. The Pilot follows the DOJ’s previously announced plan to create a new initiative expanding the existing whistleblower

When the Corporate Transparency Act took effect earlier this month, most commentary rightly focused on the obligations it imposed and the measures necessary to comply with its terms. As part of that analysis, commentators routinely noted the act contains criminal provisions providing for fines and imprisonment. From a defense perspective, the creation of new crimes