Expertise
Business & financial crime
The firm intervenes in all areas of financial criminal law, in defense and as a civil party, whether it involves corporate law offenses (misuse of corporate assets, accounting offenses), various frauds, and some of the most significant money laundering cases in the field.
ABPH lawyers have also developed specific expertise in antitrust criminal law (cartel offenses), consumer criminal law (misleading commercial practices and false advertising), and stock market criminal law (insider trading offenses).
Examples of Recent Cases​
- Defense of the CEO of a French retail group in a preliminary investigation for misuse of corporate assets
- Defense of a business executive implicated in a national-scale money laundering case, linked to Corsican organized crime
- Defense of a food sector group and its executive, prosecuted for misleading commercial practices
Corruption, Bribery & Influence Peddling
The firm defends French and international companies, as well as their executives, in investigations conducted by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office and foreign judicial authorities in matters of corruption and influence peddling. It also handles significant favoritism cases.
The lawyers often intervene in multi-jurisdictional procedures, involving strategies that consider the legal and procedural particularities of different countries.
Examples of Recent Cases:​
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- Defense of an international group, active in France, whose activity is under investigation for corruption of a foreign public official conducted by several French (National Financial Prosecutor's Office) and foreign prosecuting authorities
- Defense of a French company in a procedure for influence peddling of a foreign public official conducted by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office
- Defense of a military officer implicated for corruption and favoritism in one of the most significant public real estate contracts of the last decade
Tax Criminal Law
The firm is involved in significant tax fraud cases, on particularly complex issues such as permanent establishments, transfer pricing and margin sharing, dividend taxation, declarations of assets outside France or trusts established abroad, management fees, and VAT fraud.
The firm's clients are supported from the tax audit stage to anticipate the occurrence of a criminal procedure, increasingly common in this area.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of a listed French group in investigations related to the existence of a permanent establishment, conducted by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office
- Defense of employees of a financial institution prosecuted for tax fraud on highly complex transactions
- Defense of the CEO and CFO of a health sector group in a research tax credit fraud
Employment-related Criminal Law & Accidents
The firm's lawyers cover all aspects of social criminal law, namely labor criminal law (undeclared work, illegal labor loan, subcontracting), criminal law of labor relations (harassment, discrimination, obstruction offense), and industrial accident law.
The firm has been involved in several significant cases of posted work, workers with specific status (airline company), platforms, and fatal accidents.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of an international industrial group in numerous criminal procedures for involuntary manslaughter and injuries following user and staff accidents
- Defense of an international digital platform implicated for undeclared work in its relations with certain commercial partners
- Defense of a foreign airline implicated for undeclared work regarding the presence in France of flight personnel under specific European law provisions
Environmental Criminal Law / Business & Human Rights
The firm’s lawyers intervene, both in advisory and litigation, to support companies in their compliance with international standards in environmental and human rights matters.
They are also attentive to implementing procedures with their clients that guarantee sustainable activity and protect against allegations of fundamental rights violations or environmental destruction.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of a consulting firm implicated for misleading information dissemination to financial markets, following the publication of a report on the activity of an energy sector company
- Support of associative actors in a dialogue with stakeholders to ensure the environmental compliance of industrial projectfs
- Advice to a foreign company regarding questions raised by a United Nations Committee on Sanctions
International Criminal Law, Cooperation, & Mutual Legal Assistance
With a network of international partners, the firm regularly handles criminal law cases with an international dimension, particularly in extradition, European arrest warrants, international mutual legal assistance, Interpol disputes (red notices), and human rights defense.
The firm's lawyers are regularly called upon to participate in international defense teams.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Participation in an international defense team, urgently formed to end an international child abduction
- Participation in a defense team between France, Spain, and Belgium to coordinate the defense of a non-European citizen implicated in these three countries
- Obtaining the removal of an Interpol red notice for an Israeli-Russian business executive
Media Law, Crisis Management & Cybercrime
Press law is one of the firm’s historic areas of expertise. Trained in emergency procedures, the lawyers protect their clients' reputations, whether media personalities or international companies, against all kinds of allegations – financial misconduct, harassment, sexual offenses.
Not limiting its action to traditional media, the firm is adept at rapid interventions in response to online offenses (privacy, cyber harassment, fraud) and all forms of cybercrime.
More broadly, ABPH mobilizes whenever its clients' reputations are at stake, whether it involves preparing interviews or public interventions, including before parliamentary inquiry commissions.
The firm's lawyers also intervene pro bono in procedures initiated by associations fighting against racism and anti-Semitism and defending human rights.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of a consular magistrate victim of an online defamation campaign
- Defense of a renowned journalist specializing in music (rap & hip-hop)
- Defense of a French new technology company publicly implicated for its activities in conflict countries
General Crime
The firm's lawyers intervene during police custody, before the prosecutor, the investigating judge, the criminal court, or the jury court to defend clients – actors from the political, economic, or artistic world, or ordinary individuals – prosecuted or victims in particularly serious cases of violence, sexual offenses, or harassment.
Whether it involves preserving their clients' freedom or reputation on the one hand, or having their victim status recognized and their damage repaired on the other, the firm's lawyers present a firm, factual, effective, and respectful defense.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of a local elected official implicated for rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment
- Defense of a cultural personality implicated for sexual assault and voluntary violence
- Defense of a business executive victim of attempted murder, violence, and attempted extortion in a commercial and family conflict
Civil Fraud, Complex & High-Risk Litigation
Well-versed in white-collar crime, the firm's lawyers also intervene in very specific civil and commercial litigation, particularly when the dispute has a fraudulent connotation (unfair or illegal competition), mixes aspects of civil and criminal law (for example in bankruptcy), or presents a major financial or reputational issue (shareholder conflict, executive dismissal).
The firm regularly conducts probative procedures (ex parte requests for investigative measures), protective seizures, and asset recovery procedures.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Defense of an internationally renowned businessman in real estate and hospitality, in civil and criminal procedures within a very large-scale multi-jurisdictional dispute
- Defense of a casino in several civil and criminal procedures
- Defense of a senior executive of a listed company in civil and criminal procedures, as well as press allegations, following the restructuring of said company
Internal Investigations, Compliance, & Vigilance
The firm intervenes in internal investigations, advising both companies and executives, in response to financial (corruption, embezzlement, accounting fraud) and non-financial (assaults, harassment, discrimination) allegations.
It also assists French and foreign companies in controls by the French Anti-Corruption Agency and other international institutions.
Examples of Recent Cases:
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- Advice to a French company in an internal investigation regarding possible misconduct within a non-European subsidiary
- Assistance to executives of a pharmaceutical group in an internal investigation following tax fraud allegations
- Advice to a foreign company operating in France in an internal investigation following allegations of terrorism financing and embargo violations