Rebekah J. Poston, after serving as an Assistant US Attorney with the US Attorney's Office in Miami, Florida and as a Special Attorney with the Department of Justice's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in Cleveland, Ohio, now focuses her practice on defending complex US and non-US white collar criminal cases and corporate compliance. She has successfully represented multinational, public and private corporations, brokerage firms, airlines, banks, medical device, pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturing companies, as well as their officers, directors and employees. Ms. Poston has counseled and defended on matters involving a wide range of charges and issues including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering, environmental crime, Internet fraud and identity theft, tax evasion, bank and securities and tax fraud, customs and embargo violations, asset seizures, forfeitures and health care fraud and abuse. She has written corporate compliance programs and conducted FCPA trainings, audits and investigations for Fortune 500 companies and conducted numerous corporate internal investigations around the globe.

An authority on white collar criminal defense, Ms. Poston was named as one of Florida’s Super Lawyers in her field, a ranking that places her among the top 5 percent of all Florida’s lawyers. She has also been listed for eight consecutive years in The Best Lawyers in America, named as one of Florida’s Legal Elite by Florida Trend magazine each year since 2004 and is regularly listed in South Florida Legal Guide as one of South Florida’s leading lawyers in her field.

Ms. Poston also has an extensive 30-year background in immigration and nationality law, especially in representing individual and multinational clients. She represents the interests of both individuals and US businesses that employ non-US nationals. Ms. Poston assists multinational corporations with the preparation and filing of various petitions with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which include such visa categories as Es, H-1Bs, Ls, Os, Ps, and TNs. She and her immigration team also assist with the preparation of exchange visitor (J-1) visas for non-US nationals, who are coming to the US to participate in programs authorized by the Department of State. She and her team also have extensive experience with PERM labor certifications, immigrant visas and citizenship and naturalization matters. Ms. Poston has special experience in the areas of non-immigrant and immigrant visas for high net worth individuals, multinational executives, and specialized knowledge workers throughout Latin American and Europe.

Ms. Poston presented on the FCPA at Squire Sanders’ Anti-Corruption for Pharma & Life Sciences Conference and at a national conference on the FCPA. She also has presented on the FCPA to Fortune 500 companies and trained their legal departments. She presented on the “Implications of Criminal Law in an International Arena” for The Florida Bar’s International Law Section’s International Litigation and Arbitration Committee. She is a frequent panel member for the University of Miami School of Law’s Center for Ethics and Public Policy. She has also spoken to the Latin American/Caribbean Conference, The Association of International Bank Auditors and the Miami Free Trade Zone as well as the Association of Internal Certified Public Accountants and Florida Atlantic University. Ms. Poston also gives lectures to banks, auditors and public and private industries on such topics as anti-money-laundering compliance and cyber crime; the FCPA; the Federal Sentencing Guidelines; and preserving the attorney/client privilege and attorney work product doctrine in domestic and international corporate investigations and voluntary disclosure to government agencies. She presented at the Criminal Justice Ethics Symposium for the ABA Criminal Justice Section, Florida, White Collar Crime Committee on “Avoiding Ethical Land Mines: Recognizing the Limits of Advocacy” and regularly presents on “Legal Ethics for the Criminal Practitioner” for Lorman Seminars.

Representative Experience

 

White Collar

• Representing Fortune 500 companies in conducting their FCPA due diligence in global mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.
• Representing a company preparing its IPO in an internal investigation regarding early recognition of revenue issues.
• Conducting FCPA risk assessments and training worldwide for a variety of multinationals and Fortune 500 companies.
• Representing US brokerage firms in federal grand jury investigations for alleged broker misconduct and investor fraud.
• Representing a major US commercial airline on charges of illegal transportation of hazardous material.
• Representing a public logistics company in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged handling and processing of hazardous waste without proper permits.
• Representing a major land developer’s sales agent on charges of Clean Water Act violations and mail and wire fraud.
• Representing a cruise line’s chief engineer in a federal grand jury investigation for alleged Clean Water Act violations regarding oil pollution on the high seas.
• Representing cargo airlines in federal seizures of aircraft and raids by federal law enforcement agencies.
• Representing cargo airlines in Customs and Department of Homeland Security regulatory inspections and investigations.
• Representing importers in federal seizures of their goods by US Customs and Border Protection.
• Representing individuals on charges of Internet fraud.
• Representing individuals and companies on charges of Internet gaming.
• Representing individuals charged with US and international tax fraud.
• Representing individuals charged with securities fraud.
• Representing victims of international securities fraud.
• Representing Fortune 500 companies in FCPA internal investigations in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Honduras and Italy including revising and drafting corporate FCPA compliance and integrity codes.
• Writing FCPA compliance and integrity codes for a commercial aviation joint venture in China.
• Representing individuals in the United States whose extradition was sought from their native countries of Israel, Hong Kong, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
• Handling prisoner transfers of US citizens to the United States under Prisoner Transfer Treaties.
• Representing public and private companies in internal investigations regarding such issues as Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance, premature revenue recognition, federal contract fraud, money laundering, immigration and I-9 compliance, and employee embezzlement and theft.
• Advising public and private companies on training their employees and management on how to respond to search warrants executed by state and federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
• Representing non-US persons whose US visas have been revoked or canceled.
• Representing individuals seeking to have their intelligence records corrected or deleted from state and federal law enforcement databases.

 Outside Presentations – White Collar

• “Criminal Law in the International Arena,” Florida Bar International Litigation and Arbitration Committee.
• “FCPA Third Party Due Diligence in Latin America,” American Conference Institute, FCPA Boot Camp.
• ABA International Section, Criminal Division, Teleconference:  DOJ and SEC Update on the FCPA.
• "FCPA and Anti-Corruption,” British-American Chamber of Commerce.

Immigration

• Representing employers and individuals with non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• Representing an energy company in an I-9 government audit.
• Representing a large agricultural business in an I-9 government audit.
• Representing an international flight school in a J-1/M-1 government audit.
• Representing a public company that owns post secondary education institutions throughout the United States in a SEVIS/SEVP audit and investigation.
• Representing individuals whose criminal history records need to be cleared to pave the way toward lawful permanent residency and naturalization.
• Representing non-US nationals in government filings to correct inaccurate information housed in official government databases to facilitate their entry into the United States.

Publications

• “FCPA Due Diligence In Acquisitions,” The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulations.
• “FCPA Military and Law Enforcement Alert,” available at www.ssd.com.
• “FCPA Telecommunications Alert,” available at www.ssd.com.
• “Immigration Policy Stagnated,” South Florida Business Journal.
• “Diligence Can Close Biggest Loophole for Money Laundering: Real Estate,” Daily Business Review.
• “Investigating Fraud in Emerging Developing Markets,” A.S. Pratt and Sons and Sheshunoff Information Services and Journal of Payment Systems Law.
• “502 Protection and Selective Waiver,” ABA Litigation Reporter.
• “New Global Trends in FCPA Enforcement,” Counsel to Counsel Magazine.
• “Avoiding Foreign Entanglements,” Daily Business Review.
• “McNulty Reverses Course on Corporate Rights, But Don’t Expect Smooth Sailing,” Andrews Corporate Officers and Directors Liability Litigation Reporter.
• “Two Bows in the B Visa Quiver: B Visas Based on Medical Treatment and the Jones Act Claim,” Immigration Daily and ILW.com.
• “SEC Ramps Up End-of-Year Sanctions,” South Florida’s The Business Journal and MSNBC.com.
• “Telling Tales for Leniency: Like Other Columbia Executives Might Try Bargaining,” Modern Healthcare.
• “How Far Up Will it Go? ‘First Phase’ of Columbia Probe Nets Three Indictments,” Modern Healthcare.
• “Responding to Search and Seizure Threats,” Provider.
• “Solid Action Plan Can Counter Search Warrant Shock,” American Medical News.
• Author, “Treat Threat of Search and Seizure Like Threat of Fire,” Health Care Strategic Management.
• Author, ”Preparing for a Search Warrant: Review Affidavit, Film Search,” Healthcare Business & Legal Strategies.