Scott L. Fredericksen is a former federal prosecutor and Independent Counsel and is the senior white-collar criminal defense partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Scott has extensive litigation experience focused on white-collar criminal defense, including criminal and parallel litigation, involving Antitrust, FCPA, public corruption, fraud, ITAR and export control matters, and SEC enforcement actions.
Scott served as a member of the firm’s Management Committee and as the office managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office for 11 years.
Scott appears regularly on the CBS Evening News and in other media as a thought leader in high profile white collar criminal investigations.
Representative Experience
Scott brings more than 30 years of litigation experience to the firm, including:
United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and later for the Eastern District of Virginia as chief of a criminal section, with trial experience spanning the full spectrum of federal criminal matters, including white-collar cases
- Representation of FIFA defendant in U.S. DOJ investigation and prosecution
- Appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice as an Independent Corporate Monitor for a public company that violated the FCPA
- Represented global Japanese company and officers in largest-ever U.S. DOJ antitrust criminal investigation
- Represented officers of a public company in one of the largest bankruptcies in a parallel criminal investigation; civil litigation; and regulatory investigations
- Represented members of Congress in several public corruption investigations
- Represented individuals in several high profile federal public corruption investigations involving members of Congress
- Represented a multi-national French company in the largest-ever DOJ criminal investigation and State Department investigation involving ITAR and export controls
- Conducted numerous internal investigations and due diligence investigations in FCPA matters
- Represented a major multinational global energy company’s CFO in SEC enforcement and DOJ criminal proceedings
- Represented the relationship partner of a big four accounting firm in an SEC and DOJ health care investigation
- Represented the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House of the U.S. Congress in a high profile political corruption investigation
- Represented a public company in a federal anti-kickback investigation
- Represented a company in a federal criminal environmental investigation
- Represented one of the largest art galleries in the United States in an action to repatriate a Matisse painting transferred during World War II
- Represented Major League Baseball in the steroids investigation
- Represented companies and individuals in various DOJ national and international criminal antitrust investigations
- Represented an individual in a high profile federal investigation of municipal bond financings
- Conducted numerous corporate internal investigations nationally and internationally
Awards and Recognition
- Member of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors (IAICM)
- Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Criminal Defense: White-Collar (2009-2024)
- Peer review rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system
- Member of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors (IAICM)
- Selected for inclusion in the Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers® lists for his work in criminal defense: white collar and general litigation (2013-2017)
Affiliations
- Former member of the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court
Presentations and Publications
- Interview, “First Trial,” CBS Evening News (February 13, 2022)
- Interview, “The January 6 trial for Guy Reffitt that will set the standard for hundreds to follow,” CBS News (February 4, 2022)
- Interview, “Feds Raid Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment in Ukraine Prob,” CBS Evening News (April 28, 2021)
- Interview, “Security Tight Around Capitol as Extremist Threat Remains High,” CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell (January 21, 2021)
- Interview, “Fallout after Smollett charges dropped,” CNN’s Situation Room (March 27, 2019)
- Interview, “Paul Manafort sentenced to additional 3.5 years, total of 7.5 years,” CBS Evening News (March 13, 2019)
- Interview, “Will Roger Stone cooperate with Mueller’s Russia investigation?” CBS Evening News (January 28, 2019)
- Interview, “Should Midterms Affect Mueller Probe?” CNN’s Smerconish Show (August 4, 2018)
- Quoted, “Ex-Trump Adviser to be Sentenced in Russia Probe,” Law360 (May 24, 2018)
- Interview, “Bijan Ghaisar Shooting: Ex-Federal Prosecutor Questions US Park Police’s Use of Deadly Force,” FOX 5 News (January 25, 2018)
- Presenter, “Corporate Monitorships – The Nuts and Bolts,” The Women in White Collar subcommittee of the ABA Criminal Justice Section (June 15, 2017)
- Speaker, 33rd International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – The Premier Legal & Regulatory Anti-Corruption Compliance Event, Washington, D.C. (November 29 – December 2, 2016)
- Author, “Lessons Learned as a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Monitor,” FCPA Professor (July 23, 2015)
Thought Leadership
Media frequently call on Scott’s experience for his insightful commentary on high-profile federal criminal investigations and prosecutions. Most notably, he has appeared as a commentator in The New York Times, The Washington Post, POLITICO, CNN, Court TV (now truTV), and MSNBC’s Hardball.
Scott was interviewed several times for different appearances on the CBS Evening News regarding the Mueller Russian investigation and is regularly interviewed by national media regarding the ongoing Trump investigations. He has also provided commentary on NPR, including the former Diane Rehm Show and Minnesota Public Radio. He was interviewed regarding the Russia investigation by LA All News Radio (June 7, 2017).