Nicole S. Giffin

Nicole represents corporate and individual clients in high-stakes government investigations, enforcement actions, and internal investigations. She also works closely with clients to mitigate regulatory and litigation risks and strengthen their compliance programs.

Nicole assists clients facing inquiries and scrutiny from various regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). She guides her clients through investigations; responding to government requests, including federal grand jury subpoenas; and complex litigation.

Nicole works closely with clients to identify efficient and effective steps to mitigate regulatory and litigation risks, including operational enhancements, training programs, policies and procedures, licensing requirements, large-scale remediation projects, and strengthening compliance programs.

She is also experienced in representing financial industry and individual clients in federal courts including bankruptcy courts.

• Conducted in-depth review of an international company’s compliance office effectiveness, and advised on improvements to structure, senior management commitment, policies and procedures, and training.
• Represented an individual client facing a multicount federal felony indictment, ending in a plea to a Class B misdemeanor and a fine with no imprisonment or probation.
• Represented a financial institution in a matter involving use of business bank accounts in furtherance of check-kiting scheme, including investigation, responding to regulators and other government requests, and resulting litigation.
• Represented a financial institution in responding to government requests related to fraudulent scheme’s use of business bank accounts in furtherance of scheme.
• Represented a financial institution in an investigation regarding BSA/AML compliance, including issues regarding Beneficial Ownership Rule.
• Represented a financial institution’s client in an internal investigation into allegations of employee misconduct relating to sales practices.
• Advised a lending client on nationwide licensing requirements, applications, and compliance.
• Represented a client in responding to an ICE Notice of Inspection regarding Form I-9s and related practices.
• Assisted a mortgage servicing client in responding to the United States Trustee Program inquiries and remediation of bankruptcy practices.
• Assisted a mortgage servicing client on revising its bankruptcy policies and procedures.
• Advised a mortgage servicing client on operational enhancements for its document execution practices.