Jeffrey S. Johnston

Represented large public retail company in a grand jury investigation into possible public corruption being conducted by the Department of Justice Public Integrity Section

Represented large public retail company in a grand jury investigation into potential violations of Controlled Substances Act in connection with telemedicine provider being conducted by the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Agency

Represented one of the largest producers of natural gas in the United States in investigation being conducted by Federal Trade Commission with regard to a pending merger

Representing leading renewable energy company in internal investigation into allegations that the company retaliated against whistleblower

Advised subsea operations company in incident response, related forensic investigations, and data subject and agency notification

(SEC & DOJ) – Represented an individual executive of a publicly traded energy company in connection with an investigation into the alleged creation of an undisclosed affiliate entity to facilitate participation in a tax credit scheme as means of increasing projected revenue

Represented a global engineering and construction company in all matters—an SEC investigation, securities fraud litigation, and shareholder derivative litigation—related to a financial restatement arising out of accounting for long-term construction contracts 

Represented a major international energy company in an 18-month, worldwide investigation related to potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act associated with the use of a freight forwarding agent

Representing a large private company and its vice president of Public Affairs in a DOJ investigation of alleged public corruption

Represented the special committee of the board of directors of an electric vehicle company in an internal investigation arising out of allegations of violations of the federal securities laws and breaches of fiduciary duty

Filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Ex parte Aparicio, arguing that a challenge to Operation Lone Star’s selective enforcement policy was cognizable in a pretrial writ of habeas corpus under the text, history and tradition of federal and state equal protection guarantees

Represented a master limited partnership in an SEC investigation related to material weaknesses in the company’s internal controls over financial reporting; reached a favorable settlement on behalf of client

Represented a global energy company in three separate internal investigations, with the assistance of forensic data consultants and forensic accountants, into allegations of improper accounting, earnings management, and improper conduct by a senior executive

Represented an energy company in an internal investigation into allegations of impropriety in the company’s procurement group, including conflicts of interest with major vendors and an allegation of misappropriation of company assets

Represented a nonprofit museum in an internal investigation into alleged kickbacks and conflicts of interest between the organization’s CEO and its largest vendor

Represented an energy company in an internal investigation into potential violations of the FCPA in connection with the beginning of a multi-well offshore drilling program off the coast of Namibia

Represented the board of directors of a large, privately held real estate development and construction company in an internal investigation into whether one of its branch offices was engaged in an office-wide scheme to defraud the company and its customers on a number of private and government-funded construction projects

Represented an international E&P company in an SEC investigation arising out of an acquisition

Represented a chemical company in an SEC investigation of a potential merger

Represented a stock market analyst in an SEC investigation of alleged insider trading

Conducted an internal investigation, in cooperation with the SEC, for a public company into allegations of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in China and Hong Kong, and allegations of undisclosed director conflicts of interest

Conducted an internal investigation for a private construction company into allegations of employee fraud and overbilling government agencies

Conducted an internal investigation of alleged accounting fraud and employee fraud for a special committee of the board of directors of a private oil field services company

Conducted an expedited internal investigation for a private international company into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and federal anti-money laundering laws associated with suspicious payments in Africa

Represented a senior executive of a public company in a DOJ and SEC investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Nigeria, India, Equatorial Guinea, and Mexico

Represented a joint venture in an internal investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bid on a foreign construction project in India

Represented a major energy company in a grand jury investigation of alleged improprieties in the hiring of a former cabinet secretary 

Represented a major energy company in an investigation conducted by the inspector general of a federal agency of alleged improprieties in the award of federal mineral leases

Advised an energy company in the investigation of suspected unauthorized access to its internal network

Advised a public energy company with regard to a business email compromise that resulted in the company wiring $6.2 million to a malicious actor; the company was successful in recovering the lost amount

Advised a healthcare company that suffered a data breach on legal issues related to incident response and notifications

Advised a retail company that suffered a data breach due to the actions of a third-party contractor on the legal issues related to incident response and notifications

Advised a private equity fund that suffered a data breach on legal issues related to incident response and notifications

Representing leading renewable energy company federal securities class action involving allegations of greenwashing

Defended a global services and technology company and its officers and directors in a securities fraud suit in the Southern District of Texas alleging that the company misled investors about its compliance with international anti-corruption laws; this matter was dismissed

Defended an energy company in a multi-year investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into allegations of impropriety in the company’s procurement group, including conflicts of interest with major vendors and an allegation of misappropriation of company assets

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of securities fraud claims in the Southern District of Texas against the former directors of an independent exploration and production company for allegedly misleading investors about an ultra-deepwater drilling program, a speculative derivative trading strategy, and impairments to the company’s assets

Defended a pipeline company and certain of its officers and directors in shareholder litigation in the Southern District of Texas arising out of a crude oil pipeline leak; Plaintiffs allege that that the defendants falsely claimed to have a comprehensive, effective environmental and regulatory compliance program to prevent and remediate oil spills; this matter was dismissed and affirmed on appeal

Defended a manufacturer of fiber optic networking products and its officers in the Southern District of Texas in Sections 10(b) and 20(a) claims alleging the company misled investors about its sales to its largest customer

Defended a global engineering and construction company in all matters—an SEC investigation, securities fraud litigation, and shareholder derivative litigation in the Southern District of Texas—related to a financial restatement arising out of accounting for long-term construction contracts

Defended a medical device manufacturer in shareholder litigation alleging that the company fraudulently accounted for its stock option expenses and misled investors about the market for its device and the prospects for FDA approval; this matter was twice dismissed by the trial court in the Southern District of Texas and affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Defended the former chairman of the board of a public company in a number of securities fraud class actions, shareholder derivative cases, and an SEC investigation; working with California counsel, obtained the dismissal of securities fraud claims brought in federal court in the Southern District of California seeking billions of dollars in damages

Defended a national accounting firm in class action shareholder litigation, alleging that the accounting firm committed securities fraud, and a related SEC investigation; obtained dismissal with prejudice of the securities fraud claims in the Southern District of Texas, and the SEC took no action against our client

Defended an energy company in an arbitration proceeding related to the financing of an offshore oil and gas project, obtaining a take-nothing award in the client’s favor

Defended a large global steel distributor in a six-week jury trial in the Southern District of Texas regarding claims that steel distributors and steel mills conspired to boycott new entrant in the market