Attorney Patrick M. Mincey, Chair of the White Collar, Government Investigations & Special Matters Group at Cranfill Sumner LLP, along with co-counsel Phil Brewster of Illinois, were recently mentioned in articles published in the Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald for their representation of a North Carolina whistleblower who exposed an alleged international conspiracy to launder more than $100 million through major U.S. securities firms.
The Wall Street Journal reported the alleged conspiracy involved a network of international actors and firms collaborating to steal $2 billion from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the state-owned oil company of Venezuela. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies are trying to determine why U.S. firms managed more than $100 million in securities for a suspicious Venezuelan businessman when the accounts displayed what authorities have listed as red flags for potential money-laundering activities.
U.S. authorities launched the investigation after attorneys Mincey and Brewster filed their client’s whistleblower complaint with the SEC in 2019. “It is one of the greatest privileges of our careers to represent whistleblower Mark Coffey,” Mincey and Brewster said in a joint statement. “Our client has made extraordinary sacrifices in his endeavor to shed light on the money laundering crisis in the U.S. securities industry, and there is no doubt he should be—and will be—hailed for his unshakeable courage.”
