Sean O'Connell is a shareholder in Baker Donelson's Washington, D.C., office and a member of the Government Enforcement and Investigations Group. Sean represents corporate and individual clients in white collar and regulatory defense matters, including claims involving health care fraud, tax, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the False Claims Act (FCA). He frequently represents his clients before the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, state attorneys general, and other regulatory agencies.
Having directed both criminal and civil Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, Sean is uniquely situated to provide compliance counseling, conduct internal investigations, navigate and counter government investigations and – if need be – defend government allegations at every stage of litigation.
He also regularly advises companies about the effectiveness of their compliance programs and assists companies that are facing investigations by enforcement agencies outside of the United States.
Sean has represented several large health care clients in responding to investigations of potential violations of the FCA, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and related regulations.
Sean spent more than 13 years as a prosecutor and civil assistant U.S. attorney with the DOJ in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, Northern Criminal Enforcement Section of the Tax Division, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, and U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. He joined the DOJ as a trial attorney through the Attorney General's Honors Program and led investigations and prosecutions into a wide variety of white collar crimes, including health care, tax, bank, wire, mail, and securities fraud; money laundering; public corruption; and the FCPA.