White-Collar Crime Attorney in San Diego

White-Collar Criminal Defense in San Diego

White-collar crime is a broad label for nonviolent offenses built on allegations of deception for financial gain: fraud, embezzlement, forgery, money laundering, identity theft, and related charges. These cases rarely begin with an arrest. They begin with an investigation — sometimes one that has been underway for months before the person at its center learns it exists. By the time an accusation surfaces, the government may already have assembled a substantial file of bank records, emails, and witness interviews.

Both state and federal prosecutors in San Diego devote significant resources to financial crime, and conduct that once might have been treated as a civil dispute or an internal workplace matter is now frequently charged criminally.

If you have learned that you are under investigation, received a subpoena or target letter, or already face charges, the decisions you make in the earliest stage of the case often matter as much as anything that happens later in court. Speaking with a white-collar defense attorney before you speak with anyone else is the most protective step you can take.

Marc Kohnen: Experienced San Diego White-Collar Defense Lawyer

Marc Kohnen has represented clients in sensitive, high-profile matters, including public figures whose livelihoods depended on discretion as much as on the outcome. People accused of financial crimes are often professionals — executives, business owners, bookkeepers, licensed practitioners — for whom the accusation itself threatens a career built over decades.

Marc came to criminal defense after watching a close relative go through a wrongful conviction. That experience shapes how Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen approaches every case: with attention to the evidence, and with genuine regard for what the client and the client's family are living through while the case is pending.

Common White-Collar Charges Under California Law

California prosecutes most financial offenses under the Penal Code, and many of them are "wobblers" — charges the prosecution can file as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the alleged loss, the defendant's history, and the facts. Common charges include:

• Embezzlement (Penal Code 503): fraudulently taking property that was entrusted to you — by an employer, client, estate, or organization. Embezzlement is punished as grand theft or petty theft depending on the value involved.
• Forgery (Penal Code 470): signing another person's name, altering a document, or creating a false instrument — such as a contract, deed, or check — with intent to defraud.
• Check fraud (Penal Code 476): making, passing, or possessing a fictitious or altered check with intent to defraud.
• Grand theft by false pretenses (Penal Code 487 / 532): obtaining money or property worth more than $950 through knowingly false representations that the owner relied on.
• Identity theft (Penal Code 530.5): obtaining or using another person's identifying information — name, Social Security number, account numbers — for an unlawful purpose without consent.
• Insurance fraud (Penal Code 550): submitting false or inflated claims, staging losses, or supporting a claim with false information. Health care, auto, and workers' compensation claims are frequent targets of investigation.
• Money laundering (Penal Code 186.10): conducting transactions through financial institutions above statutory dollar thresholds, either with the intent to promote criminal activity or knowing the funds derive from criminal activity.
• Tax and payroll matters: unpaid employment taxes, unreported income, and misclassification issues can be pursued by state or federal tax authorities, sometimes criminally and sometimes alongside a related fraud charge.

The $950 line between petty theft and grand theft matters, but in most white-collar prosecutions the alleged amounts are far higher and the government aggregates multiple transactions into a single course of conduct. How the loss is calculated — and whether the prosecution's arithmetic actually holds up — is often one of the most consequential disputes in the entire case.

When a Case Goes Federal

Many financial offenses can be charged in either state or federal court, and the difference is significant. Federal prosecutors tend to take cases involving larger losses, interstate conduct, federally insured banks, government programs, or securities. The two workhorse federal statutes are mail fraud (18 U.S.C. 1341) and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343), which reach schemes to defraud that use the mail or electronic communications — broad enough to cover nearly any modern business transaction. Bank fraud and related statutes extend federal reach further.

It is also common for investigations to run in parallel: a state agency, a federal agency, and a civil regulator may all be examining the same conduct at the same time. A statement made in one proceeding can surface in another. This is one of the reasons that navigating a white-collar investigation without counsel is so hazardous — cooperation that seems harmless in a civil audit or licensing inquiry can become the government's evidence in a criminal case.

The most valuable window for the defense is often before charges are filed. In the pre-indictment phase, a defense attorney can open a dialogue with prosecutors, present exculpatory information, correct mistaken assumptions about the client's role, and in some cases persuade the government not to charge at all, or to charge less seriously. Prosecutors sometimes invite a potential defendant to a proffer session — an interview conducted under a limited-protection agreement. Proffers can create opportunities, but statements made in them can be used in ways clients do not anticipate, and inconsistencies can generate new exposure. No one should agree to a proffer without counsel evaluating whether it serves their interests.

The Investigation Phase: What to Expect

White-collar investigations are document-driven. Agents and prosecutors use search warrants to seize computers, phones, and business records; subpoenas to compel banks, employers, and third parties to produce records; and forensic accountants to reconstruct years of transactions into a narrative of intent. Investigators also interview colleagues, business partners, and sometimes the target directly.

If agents appear at your home or office, you are not required to answer their questions, and you should not. People under investigation routinely talk themselves into charges — not by confessing, but by making innocent statements that conflict with a record the agents have already reviewed, which the government then treats as evidence of deception. Be polite, take a business card, say that your attorney will be in contact, and call a lawyer. The same caution applies to workplace internal investigations: interviews conducted by company counsel are for the company's benefit, not yours, and what you say can be handed to the government.

Early defense involvement changes the posture of the investigation. Counsel can accept service of subpoenas, manage document production so that privileged material is protected, communicate with agents so that you never have to, and begin building the defense while records and memories are fresh.

What Drives Sentencing Exposure

In white-collar cases, the charged statute is only the starting point. The factors that actually drive sentencing include the alleged loss amount, the number of victims, the duration and sophistication of the alleged scheme, and the defendant's role and history. Loss matters most: the same conduct can look like a probation case or a prison case depending on how the loss is calculated and whether the defense successfully challenges that calculation.

California adds a significant enhancement for serious cases. Penal Code 186.11 — the aggravated white-collar crime enhancement — applies where a defendant is convicted of two or more related felonies with fraud or embezzlement as a material element, committed as a pattern of related felony conduct involving more than $100,000 in losses, and it can add years to a sentence. Section 186.11 also authorizes prosecutors to seek pretrial orders freezing and preserving a defendant's assets so that money remains available for fines and restitution — which means a person can lose practical access to their own funds long before any conviction.

Restitution is a near-certainty in any fraud or theft conviction: California courts are required to order defendants to compensate victims for economic losses, and that obligation outlasts probation. On the custody side, many California theft and fraud felonies are eligible for sentencing under Penal Code 1170(h), meaning time is served in county jail rather than state prison, and courts can split a sentence between custody and mandatory supervision. Whether a case resolves with probation, a split sentence, or a full custody term depends on the loss, the enhancement allegations, and the quality of the mitigation the defense presents.

Collateral Consequences: What a Conviction Touches Beyond the Sentence

For professionals, the sentence is often not the most damaging consequence of a white-collar conviction. Offenses involving fraud or dishonesty are treated as crimes of moral turpitude in many contexts, which can trigger discipline — including suspension or revocation — for licensed professionals such as physicians, nurses, attorneys, accountants, real estate agents, contractors, and financial advisers. Licensing boards frequently open their own proceedings based on a criminal case, and sometimes based on an arrest alone.

Non-citizens face serious immigration exposure: fraud and theft convictions can constitute deportable or inadmissible offenses depending on the sentence and the loss involved, so charge selection and plea structure must be handled with immigration consequences in view. A criminal case is also often accompanied by civil lawsuits from alleged victims, employers, or insurers seeking the same money; the two tracks must be managed together, because admissions in one can decide the other. And asset freezes under Penal Code 186.11 can restrict access to funds while the case is pending — including funds needed to run a business or support a family.

A defense strategy that considers only the criminal penalty is incomplete. Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen builds these collateral issues into the defense plan from the first consultation.

Defense Strategies in White-Collar Cases

Nearly every white-collar charge requires the prosecution to prove fraudulent intent — that you knowingly deceived someone to obtain money or property. Intent is where these cases are won and lost, because financial records show what happened but rarely show why. Depending on the facts, defenses may include:

• Lack of fraudulent intent: mistakes, sloppy bookkeeping, failed business judgment, and optimistic projections are not crimes. If the evidence shows error rather than deception, the case fails.
• Authorization and consent: money that was borrowed, advanced, or spent with the owner's knowledge and permission was not embezzled, even if the arrangement later soured or was poorly documented.
• Accounting and loss disputes: prosecutions often rest on a forensic reconstruction that embeds assumptions. Independent accounting analysis can show that the loss is smaller than alleged, attributable to other causes, or not a loss at all.
• Reliance on professional advice: where a client disclosed the facts to an accountant, attorney, or compliance professional and followed their guidance in good faith, that reliance can negate the intent to defraud.
• Insufficient connection to the scheme: in multi-defendant cases, the government sometimes sweeps in employees or associates who processed transactions without knowing anything was wrong.

Which defenses apply depends entirely on the facts and the evidence, and no attorney can promise a particular result. What a thorough defense can do is force the government to prove every element, challenge the loss calculation, present the exculpatory context that investigators ignored, and position the case for the most favorable realistic resolution — whether that is a declination, a dismissal, a reduced charge, or a sentence that keeps a client's life and livelihood intact.

Frequently Asked Questions

Federal agents came to my home or office. Should I talk to them?

No — not without counsel. You have the right to decline an interview. Agents typically arrive prepared with documents you have not reviewed, and even truthful answers given from memory can conflict with a record and create new problems, including potential exposure for making false statements. Take the agents' contact information, say your attorney will follow up, and call a lawyer the same day.

I'm under investigation but haven't been charged. Is it too early to hire a lawyer?

It is the most valuable time to do so. Before charges are filed, defense counsel can communicate with investigators on your behalf, protect you from missteps in interviews and document production, and in some cases influence whether charges are filed at all and what they look like. Once an indictment or complaint is filed, many of those options narrow. Hiring a lawyer is confidential and is not an admission of anything.

Will I go to prison for a first offense?

It depends on the charge, the alleged loss, and the facts — no honest attorney will promise otherwise. Many first-time defendants in state fraud and theft cases are candidates for probation or a split sentence under Penal Code 1170(h), particularly where restitution is paid and the defense presents strong mitigation. Larger losses, multiple victims, or a Penal Code 186.11 enhancement push exposure upward, and federal cases follow their own sentencing framework in which loss amount weighs heavily. An accurate assessment requires reviewing the actual allegations, which is what an initial consultation is for.

What is the difference between embezzlement and theft?

Embezzlement under Penal Code 503 is a form of theft with one distinctive element: the property was lawfully entrusted to you before you allegedly took it — a bookkeeper with signing authority, a manager with a company card, a trustee handling estate funds. That entrustment element cuts both ways: it makes the charge feel personal to employers and prosecutors, but it also puts questions of authorization and permission at the center of the case, and those questions frequently favor the defense.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation

It is understandable to feel anxious about what comes next. Even though no one alleges an act of violence, the repercussions of a financial-crime conviction reach into every part of a professional's life — career, license, finances, immigration status, and family.

Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen prepares clients honestly for what lies ahead, protects them from avoidable mistakes during the investigation, and fights the government's case at every stage — from the first subpoena to trial, if trial is where the case needs to go.

If you are facing a white-collar investigation or charge in San Diego, in state or federal court, contact the office today for a free, confidential case evaluation. The earlier the conversation happens, the more your defense can do.