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The Eastern District of Virginia, commonly referred to as the “Rocket Docket,” is notorious among US courts for the speed with which it processes and resolves cases.

Now, in an unprecedented partnership between criminal investigators and civil regulators, the new Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force based in that venue will investigate and prosecute complex financial fraud cases.

In addition to prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office, the task force will consist of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and Virginia’s Attorney General’s Office and State Corporation Commission. The task force, announced on May 21, 2010 by Neil H. MacBride, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, will also serve as an investigative arm of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

While the Southern District of New York is currently home to many financial fraud cases, the creation of the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force could shift that center of power. Because the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR database is located in Alexandria, Virginia, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has held that Virginia’s Eastern District is an appropriate venue to prosecute securities fraud that takes place almost anywhere in the United States. Given this precedent, US Attorney MacBride has indicated that the task force’s investigations and prosecutions will be national in scope: “The Eastern District of Virginia has the legal authority to bring cases here with national significance, regardless of where the fraud occurs.”

The Rocket Docket’s rules, procedures and pace can be intimidating. Prosecutions and investigations initiated by the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force will proceed on expedited schedules unheard of in other jurisdictions.

The creation of the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force promises aggressive civil and criminal enforcement actions in the Eastern District in the near future.

For more information about the Task Force or to learn more about DLA Piper’s extensive litigation and investigations practice in the Eastern District of Virginia, please contact:

Tara Lee