Two systems, overlapping conduct
A county district attorney enforces state law, while a U.S. Attorney's office brings federal charges such as mail, wire, bank, or health care fraud. The choice often turns on the size of the alleged loss, whether the conduct crossed state lines, which agency investigated, and policies inside each office. Federal and state governments are separate sovereigns, so a prosecution in one does not automatically bar a case in the other, although internal Justice Department policy and New York's own double jeopardy rules limit successive prosecutions in many situations. Those limits are technical, and they are worth reviewing early rather than assuming.
How procedure and sentencing diverge
Federal cases typically begin with an investigation that can run for a long time before charges, often through grand jury subpoenas, and sentencing involves an advisory guidelines calculation. New York felony cases also go through a grand jury, but discovery rules, plea practices, and sentencing structures differ. Evidence gathered by one government can sometimes be shared with the other, and statements made in one forum can travel. If you are not a U.S. citizen, both systems carry immigration consequences that need their own analysis.
Building a defense around the right forum
Our first task is to identify who is actually investigating and whether there is a parallel civil, regulatory, or licensing matter. We look at any subpoenas, target letters, or contact from agents or detectives, and we advise you not to speak with investigators until you have counsel. From there, we discuss whether early contact with prosecutors makes sense, how to preserve documents without creating new issues, and how decisions in one case could affect the other. Federal & state fraud defense often means coordinating strategy across forums rather than handling each in isolation.
