If you want a circumspect and cautiously delivered response to the above-posed headline question, don’t solicit the viewpoint of Howard Root.
Root is a medical device company chief executive officer, and what he has to say on the subject of federal investigators probing business leaders for their alleged involvement in criminal conduct grounded in fraud and other white collar-based wrongdoing is bracing and eminently direct.
“This is a group of people who are out to get all of us,” he says.
To be clear on that, what Root contends is that, if you’re the head of a health care company or, increasingly, any other business, the clock could likely be ticking toward the day when you find yourself the subject of an indictment charging you with criminal behavior.
And what especially galls Root is his belief that authorities — state and federal regulators and justice officials — are lumping CEOS and other corporate chiefs in with other offenders in a company simply because of their status and the cachet that goes along with nailing them on criminal convictions.
And, increasingly, they’re willing to broaden the investigatory net even when there is no actual evidence of wrongdoing on the part of people they most want to see convicted.
Root himself was a principal in a recently concluded federal case in which his company and he personally were co-defendants. He and his enterprise were both found not guilty on all 10 criminal counts against them.
Unquestionably, white-collar fraud probe investigations and prosecutorial actions are growing in scope and fervor, with plenary resources being brought to bear against individuals who are targeted by state and federal task forces in fraud-prevention efforts.
Any person with questions or concerns regarding a business fraud-related criminal investigation can obtain candid guidance and aggressive legal representation from a proven defense attorney well-grounded in white collar criminal defense.
