Jaime B. Guerrero

Jaime Guerrero is a Los Angeles-based, fluent Spanish-speaking lawyer and a member of Foley’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice. Jaime’s practice focuses on: 1) U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, with significant experience in Latin American matters; 2) representing companies and senior executives in domestic and international government investigations, government enforcement actions and related litigation; and 3) providing practical, business-focused regulatory advice and enhancing compliance programs to avoid government enforcement matters.

Jaime, a former criminal Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, applies his strong written and oral advocacy skills to each case in hopes of persuading government officials on behalf of his clients. His clients look to him for his judgment, his experience, and his understanding of the workings of the DOJ and the SEC in each case. Prior to law school, Jaime was a public accountant with Deloitte & Touche LLP, successfully completing the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination. His experience as a public accountant helps to inform his government enforcement and investigations practice, particularly as it relates to the FCPA, fraud, embezzlement and other financial crimes.

Global Problems, Global Solutions

Jaime is adept at assembling and leading global teams of professionals to provide solutions and guidance in response to the potentially catastrophic threat presented by a government enforcement action. He has significant experience negotiating with, and litigating against, the DOJ and the SEC, as well as numerous U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. This experience provides him with a unique insight into the expectations and demands of government enforcement agencies.

In the course of assisting companies and senior executives in managing and responding to crises outside the U.S., Jaime has conducted internal investigations and responded to enforcement actions all over the world. He has also built deep relationships with top-caliber business-oriented enforcement attorneys, forensic accountants, and other professionals in virtually all of the world’s largest economies. Moreover, Jaime has developed a niche in successfully representing individuals outside of the United States that are facing government enforcement actions in the United States.

Extensive Latin America Experience

Jaime has particularly deep experience in leading investigations and responding to government enforcement actions arising out of Latin America, including representing companies and individuals in response to government enforcement matters. He has assembled and led teams of Spanish-speaking attorneys to handle matters throughout Latin America, including conducting internal investigations, and providing practical business advice to clients in Spanish to ensure that nothing is “lost in translation.” Throughout the course of his career, he has conducted dozens of site visits for investigations throughout Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

Jaime and Foley’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice have garnered recognition by Chambers USA (2014), which reported that the firm is “particularly noted for its presence in providing counsel on FCPA matters to Latin American clients.”

Deep International Anti-Corruption Subject Matter Experience

The FCPA, as well as global anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, are a significant focus of Jaime’s government enforcement defense, investigations, and counseling practice. His experience includes:

• Representing a publicly traded U.S. media services company which discovered that its Peru subsidiary had been making suspicious payments to a third-party agent. The investigation led to the discovery of a number of additional compliance issues, including suspicious payments in China, improper sales to Cuba and additional Peru bribery allegations. Jaime helped navigate the company through the complex landscape this presented, including defending the company during parallel DOJ and SEC investigations.
• Representing a publicly traded U.S. office furnishing company that received hotline allegations of FCPA violations by the company’s subsidiary in Mexico. Jaime led the internal investigation and helped the company successfully respond to a separate, informal inquiry by the SEC into the same alleged FCPA violations in Mexico.
• Representing an individual defendant, a Bolivian national, in the FIFA criminal case currently pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York; namely, United States v. Hawit, et al., Cr. No. 15-252 (S-1) (RJD). The criminal indictment is the result of the DOJ’s criminal investigation of the alleged bribe-taking by certain FIFA executives.
• Representing an Argentina-based information technology company in responding to a formal FCPA investigation by the SEC, including conducting an internal investigation.
• Representing two Latin American professional athletes responding to a DOJ investigation of alleged FCPA violations by a U.S. based professional sports team.
• Representing a U.S. based multinational pharmaceutical company in responding to a SEC FCPA investigation, including conducting an internal investigation throughout Latin America. Jaime helped the company successfully navigate the SEC’s investigation.
• Representing a Mexican national senior executive with respect to parallel DOJ and SEC FCPA investigations of the executive's employer, the Mexican subsidiary of a U.S. based multinational retail corporation.

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Panelist, "Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight to Promote Openness and Counter Corruption," ParlAmericans: Beyond the Walls of Parliament, 4th Gathering of the ParlAmericans Open Parliament Network, Quito, Ecuador (March 12-14, 2019)
• Panelist, Anti-Corruption Case Review, A Complete Refresher on the Most Important Lessons Learned from Key US and International Investigations and Settlements; Key Takeaways to Optimize Your Global Compliance Program, FCPA Houston, American Conference Institute (January 2019)
• Co-author, “FCPA Notebook: Trends 2019,” Foley & Lardner LLP (2019)

Recognition

• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Criminal Defense: White-Collar (2016-2021)
• Recipient, U.S. District Court Clerkship, Hon. Robert J. Kelleher, Central District of California

Education

• University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (J.D., 1997)
• University of California, Berkeley, Haas Undergraduate School of Business (B.S., 1991)

Admissions

• California
• U.S. District Courts
  • Northern District of California
  • Central Districts of California
• U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Ninth Circuit of Appeals
  • Eleventh Circuit of Appeals