Michael Culhane Harper is a partner in the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice group. His practice focuses on government investigations, securities enforcement, internal investigations, and white collar defense representations. His practice also involves counseling clients on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering compliance programs.
Michael is an experienced trilingual white-collar lawyer with extensive global experience working on high-profile individual and corporate matters dealing with US laws with extraterritorial reach, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and federal criminal statutes pertaining to antitrust or money laundering violations and other financial frauds.
Prior to joining the firm, Michael spent seven years as a federal prosecutor in the FCPA Unit at the Department of Justice (DOJ). While at the DOJ, Michael spearheaded some of the most significant and complex international bribery and money laundering cases against publicly traded and privately held companies, board members and executives, finance professionals, lawyers, and high-level foreign government officials. His investigations spanned the globe and involved extensive interactions and negotiations with multiple domestic authorities, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as prosecutorial and regulatory authorities abroad, including Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Michael’s DOJ investigations resulted in criminal charges against more than 20 individuals, four corporate resolutions, and total criminal penalties and forfeiture in excess of US$1 billion.
Prior to public service, Michael spent seven years working for a global law firm, most of which was spent in firm's São Paulo, Brazil office. He has extensive experience throughout Latin America.
