Actions for Wrongful Charge or Conviction
Everything is at stake when a citizen becomes the target of a criminal investigation: liberty, reputation, assets, family, legacy. An allegation that a citizen has committed a crime that is made constructively, for example, through the issuance of a subpoena to banks for documents, or through the execution of search warrants on business premises or at the citizen’s home, can have devastating reputational consequences to the citizen with his or her family and friends and within the larger social and business community in which the citizen makes his or her life and livelihood.
The damage caused by a wrongful allegation of criminality increases exponentially when formal charges are laid. Media publication of the fact that search warrants have been executed or that charges have been laid magnifies the damage. Finally, the posting on the internet of investigating agency press releases related to the fact that a criminal investigation has been undertaken or that charges have been laid creates a permanent reputational stain that is virtually impossible to erase. Of course, all of these effects are magnified even further for those who have been wrongly convicted at trial and whose convictions have been overturned either on appeal or review.
M+A provides passionate criminal defence services to those who are subject to investigation or charge (See:
Domestic Tax and
General Criminal Defence). M+A also has broad experience in identifying those cases where it is appropriate for the damaged individual or enterprise to sue investigating agencies to seek recovery of monetary damages for the conduct of a wrongful or negligent criminal investigation.
M+A’s core philosophy is that its work is not done until it has both demonstrated the citizen’s innocence in the criminal courts and then also sought to restore the citizen’s reputation by way of an action for damages for defamation in the civil courts.
