A member of Reed Smith’s Regulatory & Investigations Group, Scott is a former federal prosecutor with extensive experience representing clients across industries in white-collar criminal defense matters and a wide range of investigations matters, including internal, criminal, board of directors, and cross-border investigations. Scott has been recognized in Chambers USA as “a fantastic lawyer with a keen understanding of how to handle complex government investigations.” His experience extends to complex commercial litigation and independent corporate monitorships. He has significant trial and appellate experience as both a federal prosecutor and a defense attorney in private practice.
Scott assists clients with a wide range of government enforcement issues, including the False Claims Act (government contracting, health care, and tax matters), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), civil investigative demands, securities fraud allegations, criminal environmental and antitrust issues, export enforcement, and grand jury and administrative subpoena compliance. He regularly represents clients in matters with the Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. attorney’s offices, the SEC, state attorneys general, offices of inspector general, and a variety of other federal enforcement agencies. He has also represented financial institutions in connection with DOJ, FDIC, and OCC investigations.
Scott previously served as the Deputy Monitor for Anti-Fraud, Ethics and Compliance for Larry D. Thompson, the Independent Compliance Monitor and Auditor for Volkswagen AG. The team oversaw VW AG’s compliance with plea agreement and consent decree obligations arising from parallel criminal and civil cases concerning the company’s diesel-powered cars sold in the United States. In this role, Scott led the team of attorneys, auditors, and consultants that reviewed, audited, and tested the design and operating effectiveness of the company’s anti-fraud and ethics remedial measures and compliance program improvements.
Scott also served in the DOJ as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully investigated and prosecuted a wide array of federal offenses in the areas of securities fraud, RICO, white-collar crime, money laundering, terrorism and national security, export control violations, organized crime, trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and mail, wire, and bank fraud. While in this role, Scott had numerous jury trials, bench trials, and hearings in federal court, and briefed and argued appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Scott has been recognized as a leader in the government investigations field by top legal directories. He has been listed in Chambers USA as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations Litigation since 2021 and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in several categories, including White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Corporate Compliance Law, White-Collar Criminal Defense, and Regulatory Enforcement Litigation (SEC, Telecom, and Energy).
