John W.F. Chesley

John Chesley is a litigation associate in Gibson Dunn's Washington, D.C. office.  He focuses his practice on white collar criminal and securities enforcement matters, as well as high-stakes civil and administrative litigation.  Mr. Chesley has significant trial experience and appears regularly in courts and before administrative tribunals in the District of Columbia and surrounding jurisdictions.  He also has substantial experience representing corporations, audit committees, and executives in internal investigations and before government agencies in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government contracts fraud, securities violations, the antitrust laws, and SOX whistleblower claims.

A representative sampling of reported client engagements include:

• Raytheon Co. v. United States – Recently completed a three-week trial before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in a dispute with the Government concerning pension costs (decision pending);
• In the Matter of Theodore W. Urban – Successful trial defense of the former General Counsel of a broker-dealer charged with failing to supervise a broker, culminating in an acquitted on all charges;
• SEC v. General Electric Co. – Obtained a declination of criminal prosecution by DOJ in an FCPA investigation arising out of the Oil-for-Food Program and negotiated a favorable settlement with the SEC;
• United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Bureau of Safety & Regulation – Obtained the reversal of an administrative occupational safety and health citation in the Court of Appeals of Michigan and then successfully defended the Court of Appeals’ decision before the Michigan Supreme Court; and
• In the Matter of Police Officer Tonia Taylor – Obtained acquittal on the most serious 20 of 29 charges lodged against Officer Taylor in a police trial board proceeding and currently serving as lead appellate counsel in the Maryland courts of appeal for the 9 counts of conviction.

A representative sampling of confidential client engagements include:

• Successfully persuaded the SEC not to bring charges, post-Wells notice, against the CFO of a mining company in connection with allegations of FCPA violations;
• Representation of a major multi-national conglomerate in connection with SOX whistleblower claims raised by an attorney formerly employed by an Indian subsidiary;
• Representation of a defense contractor in a joint DOJ/SEC investigation arising from the arrest of a former employee of the contractor in the 2010 "FCPA Sting";
• Representation of a defense contractor in an internal review of compliance with export laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations;
• Representation of a defense contractor before the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Defense Contract Audit Agency, and SEC in connection with SOX whistleblower claims raised by the contractor’s chief compliance officer;
• Representation of a defense contractor in a grand jury investigation arising from allegations of improper political contributions;
• Representation of a real estate development firm in a grand jury investigation arising from alleged violations of the Clean Water Act;
• Representation of a senior chemical company executive in connection with criminal antitrust investigations in the United States and Canada and collateral, multi-district civil litigation in the United States; and
• Buy- and sell-side representation of numerous clients across a multitude of industries in connection with pre-acquisition FCPA due diligence reviews. 

Mr. Chesley graduated with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2005, where he attended classes while working for the National Criminal Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Maryland in 2001 and also is a former police officer.

Mr. Chesley is a member of the bars of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia and has a Secret security clearance.