WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP today announced that Jennifer Baskin and Stephen Spiegelhalter have joined its Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS) practice as partners in the firm's Washington, DC office. Baskin and Spiegelhalter both previously worked in the federal government offices that have sole jurisdiction over prosecutions of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA): Baskin was the first forensic accountant attached to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s FCPA Unit, and Spiegelhalter was a federal prosecutor within the Department of Justice, Criminal Fraud Section, FCPA Unit.
Baskin, who previously spent seven years in the Chicago and Dallas offices of Ernst & Young LLP, rejoins from IBM, where she was a Forensic Accounting Specialist and Trust & Compliance Officer. Before IBM, she was a Forensic Accounting Specialist with the SEC in Washington. While at the SEC, Baskin participated in numerous high-profile FCPA matters focusing on accounting aspects of investigations including books and records violations, internal control violations, and disgorgement as a part of settlement. Baskin's experience covers a broad range of focus areas including FCPA compliance and investigations, accounting malpractice disputes, and financial investigations.
Spiegelhalter also joins from IBM, where he served as Principal Investigations Counsel. Before IBM, he was a federal prosecutor for nearly eight years, including four years with the Department of Justice Fraud Section's FCPA Unit. While in the FCPA Unit, Spiegelhalter was lead prosecutor on dozens of FCPA matters, represented the Department of Justice in interactions with foreign prosecutors and law enforcement, and also led traditional fraud and money laundering investigations. Among other matters, Spiegelhalter was the lead prosecutor in the 2012 prosecution of a managing director of a US financial institution for conspiring to circumvent the bank's internal accounting controls. The case remains the only prosecution in which the Department of Justice publicly described the reason that it declined to charge a company after charging its executive. Spiegelhalter was also lead prosecutor in the first FCPA matter ever to employ court-sanctioned wiretaps, a prosecution that led to the imprisonment of an individual who obstructed a pending FCPA grand jury investigation. Spiegelhalter has deep investigative experience in numerous industries, including financial services, life sciences, aerospace & defense, mining and extractive and information technology, and has investigated business conduct that occurred in over 40 countries.
"Jen and Steve know what matters to government prosecutors, in-house attorneys, and business executives, something that uniquely positions them to deal with the difficult internal and government investigations that our clients face," says Brian Loughman, EY Americas FIDS Leader. "They both have significant experience in understanding the nuts and bolts of corporate compliance, anti-corruption compliance programs, compliance controls and systems. They also understand the government's priorities and views on issues relating to corporate governance and compliance. Their experience and judgment from working in different environments will be very valuable to our clientele."
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