Susan Resley

Resley and her team represent a Fortune 100 technology business in connection with regulatory investigations into former senior executives of a company it acquired. Resley’s client overvalued the acquired company due to accounting fraud and asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

The investigation has led to the indictments of the acquired company’s former executives. Resley’s client is suing the former executives in ongoing civil litigation.

“This is an example where when you represent companies, they are very much victims just as much as individuals can be. In this case, our client was the victim of a significant fraud committed by former senior officers of the company our client acquired,” Resley said. “What we did was to ensure that the SEC, DOJ and other relevant government entities were aware of what the situation was, and cooperated with them in the process.”

Early in her career, Resley worked at the SEC, handling investigations into insider trading, broker-dealer practices, municipal bond offerings, accounting practices and market manipulation. The experience has been invaluable in explaining the process to clients and understanding how to advocate for clients before the SEC, she said.

In addition to understanding the facts and legal issues of an investigation, Resley said part of her role is to be an empathetic ear.

“Sometimes executives, including client representatives, just need to vent. I always make it clear that we’re there to listen to them, to hear what their concerns are,” she said. “That to me is every bit as important as it is to try to understand facts and what the legal issues are.”

Though most of her clients are confidential, Resley represents companies, boards and their committees, individual directors, senior officers, and employees of companies, as well as financial institutions in proceedings brought by the SEC, the DOJ and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

“My biggest victories are the cases no one ever hears about, because my team and I are able to convince the SEC to go away,” she said.

— Jennifer Chung Klam