Arnold Spencer is a partner in the White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group in the Dallas office of Haynes and Boone. He concentrates his practice on defending white collar grand jury investigations and criminal prosecutions.
In his first year since returning to private practice, Arnold has successfully defended several companies and executives accused of fraud and financial mismanagement. Recently, he negotiated an agreement under which prosecutors dismissed criminal bank fraud charges that had been filed and allowed the client to resolve the dispute without criminal charges. In another matter, he convinced federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office and the SEC to drop investigations into allegations that an oil and gas executive had engaged in a "Ponzi" scheme. Arnold also successfully defended a corporation which was accused of participating in a trade-based money laundering scheme; no civil or criminal charges were brought and the government returned 100 percent of the funds seized from his client. Arnold has assisted several telecommunication, real estate, retail and energy clients respond to grand jury subpoenas and conduct internal investigations for these companies.
Arnold is a former Assistant United States Attorney. He has personally tried more than 20 federal criminal cases to successful jury verdicts. In his 10 years as a federal prosecutor, he never lost a single trial, he obtained guilty verdicts on every indicted count, and he was affirmed on every appeal. He prosecuted cases involving all levels of corporate fraud and misconduct, including securities and financial fraud, money laundering, environmental crimes, public corruption, healthcare fraud, computer crimes and immigration fraud. He has appeared before every district court judge in the Eastern District of Texas.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Arnold maintained a docket national in scope. He coordinated grand jury investigations and criminal prosecutions with numerous sections of the Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., including serving on detail to the Fraud Section as a member of the securities fraud prosecution of Enron and Merrill Lynch employees. Arnold held several supervisory positions during his tenure at the U.S. Attorney's Office, including First Assistant and Chief of the Criminal Division.
Arnold also received national attention for his prosecution of an unlicensed foreign-based money transmitting business operating out of New York City. Shortly thereafter, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") proposed revisions to the Code of Federal Regulations, which eliminate some of the obstacles that arose in that case and in prosecuting these types of entities in general.
Similarly, Arnold received the John Marshall Award, the highest award presented to a Justice Department attorney for contributions and excellence in legal performance, for his work with the Environmental Crimes Section in which he coordinated a nationwide prosecution of a corporation for Clean Air Act violations.
Arnold also spearheaded the Office’s joint venture with law enforcement agencies in corporate and financial fraud matters, chairing the Asset Forfeiture Section, the Northeast Securities Fraud Task Force and the Suspicious Activity Report ("SAR") Task Force. Arnold is a nationally-recognized expert in the area of civil and criminal asset forfeiture. As the Asset Forfeiture Chief, he led one of the most active and productive forfeiture programs in the country.
Prior to attending law school, Arnold gained extensive experience with securities and financial institutions as an investment banker.
Relevant Experience
- Criminal Conspiracies/Corporate Fraud: Successfully prosecuted Enron executives and three Merrill Lynch managing directors who conspired to fraudulently book revenue for Enron in Nigerian Barge transaction. U.S. v. James Brown, et al.
- Securities Fraud/Insider Trading: Secured guilty plea from a corporate officer who admitted to filing fraudulent financial statements in a revenue recognition scheme and making false statements to the SEC. U.S. v. Curtis Swanson, et al.
- Wire Fraud/Money Laundering: Obtained a 40-year sentence for a software engineer whose money laundering violations cost his venture-capital fund victims over $20 million. U.S. v. Don Tarnawa.
- Securities Fraud: Coordinated with SEC attorneys to secure guilty plea from a corporate executive who led a nationwide securities fraud scheme with approximately $25 million in losses. U.S. v. Jules Fleder, et al.
- Mail Fraud: Successfully prosecuted a corporate officer for mail fraud, obtaining a ten-year sentence that was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit in a published opinion. U.S. v. Richard Tucker.
- Environmental Litigation: Led the first criminal prosecution under particular Clean Air Act statutes, resulting in the corporation's paying a 4.5 million dollar criminal fine and implementing a 25 million dollar compliance program. U.S. v. Tyler Pipe Corp.
- Asset Forfeiture: Litigated and supervised thousands of asset forfeiture cases; ranked first among all U.S. Attorneys' Offices in assets forfeited.
Recent Speeches and Publications
How to Form a Suspicious Activity Report Task Force (Co-author), DOJ publication, expected release in 2011
- Recent Developments in Criminal Asset Forfeiture Law, Asset Forfeiture Chiefs and Experts Conference, 2010
- Advanced Suspicious Activity Reports Task Forces (Course Co-Coordinator), National Advocacy Center, 2009
- Circumstantial Evidence in Money Laundering Prosecutions, Advanced Money Laundering Course, National Advocacy Center, 2009
- U.S. v. Emilor: Prosecuting Foreign-Based MSBs Under Section 1960, Money Laundering Monitor, 2008
- Legal Issues in Suspicious Activity Reports, IRS Special Agent Training, 2008–2010
- Emerging Trends for Financial Institutions and Money Transmitting Businesses, Advanced Money Laundering Course, National Advocacy Center, 2008
- Improving Coordinated Reporting between Banks and FinCEN, Texas Bankers Association, 2008
- Federal Sentencing After U.S. v. Kimbrough, nationwide webcast, 2008
Awards
- Attorney General's John Marshall Award
- SEC Southwest Regional Office Courage and Valor Award
- EPA Silver Medal
- Certificates of Commendation and Appreciation from the FBI, IRS, ICE, U.S. Secret Service, OIG, and the Texas Dept. of Public Safety
Selected Representative Experience