Kevin McCarthy
Former House Speaker
Lynette Byrd
Former Assistant
U.S. Attorney
John Sellers
Former DOJ
U.S. Attorney
Michele A. Ratcliffe
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
Dr. Nick Oberheiden
Attorney & Founder
Contact John Sellers directly.
Biography
John W. Sellers is the Chair of the firm’s Government Investigations & White-Collar Practice Group. He places particular emphasis on representing clients in complex cases involving money laundering, tax fraud, securities fraud, and white-collar crimes.
Mr. Sellers has devoted his entire career to investigating and litigating these types of cases. Today, he represents companies and individuals in high-profile and sensitive matters before the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), other U.S. agencies and international institutions. His cases often involve the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and other federal sanctions laws and criminal statutes related to corporate financial crimes and national security.
Mr. Sellers also advises clients on risk and compliance in international transactions and in the cannabis industry.
DOJ & Government Background. Mr. Sellers devoted 30 years to working for the federal government before entering private practice. As a DOJ trial attorney, Mr. Sellers served as lead prosecutor for some of the largest financial crime cases in U.S. history. During his tenure with the DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Mr. Sellers assisted U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal prosecutors nationwide—including in New York, Boston, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico—with complex financial crime investigations involving money laundering, wire fraud, OFAC sanctions violations, securities fraud, and other offenses. As one of the Justice Department’s top prosecutors in asset forfeiture cases, Mr. Sellers was a key strategist for AML and BSA prosecutions targeting banks, bankers and professional money launderers, including the DOJ’s Black Market Peso Exchange litigation and OCDETF cases.
Mr. Sellers also served as the Acting Chief and Deputy Chief Investigative Counsel to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). In this capacity, he was in charge of all related bank prosecutions for SOX and SEC violations, including financial statement fraud, commercial and residential lending portfolio fraud, underwriting and securitization fraud, insider abuse, self-dealing, conflicts of interests, and misapplications of bank funds.
Click here to contact Mr. Sellers directly.
Accolades & Education
Accolades & Education. Mr. Sellers is the recipient of the Assistant Attorney General Special Achievement Award in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2005; the Meritious Service Award in 2004, and the Special Commendation Award in 2006. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University of Law in New Jersey and his B.S. in Political Science and Speech Communication from Eastern New Mexico University. From 1984 to 1992, Mr. Sellers served as a Systems Analyst in the U.S. Air Force, where he was awarded the United States Air Force Commendation Medal and the United States Air Force Achievement Medal. Mr. Sellers is admitted to practice law in Maryland as well as before various federal courts.
