Nicole Sprinzen focuses her practice on representing companies and individuals in criminal matters and parallel civil proceedings, as well as in internal investigations. Her practice includes advising clients in matters arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), U.S. anti-money laundering laws and the securities and commodities laws, as well as in connection with federal procurement, mortgage and bank fraud allegations. Nicole has also represented clients in investigations being conducted by the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency, and served as a monitor for a company participating in the World Bank’s Voluntary Disclosure Program. Nicole has represented clients in investigations by U.S. government authorities under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and, while serving as a federal prosecutor, she coordinated parallel foreign proceedings under MLATs.
An experienced trial lawyer, Nicole has tried federal and state cases in the District of Columbia and throughout the country. She has litigated cases involving a broad range of industries in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country, including accounting, banking, securities, commodities trading, health care, construction, government contracting and the student loan industry. Her practice includes handling False Claims Act and other civil litigation matters, including civil forfeiture, shareholder class action, securities fraud and breach of contract cases.
Her experience also includes representing clients in matters governed by the First Amendment, and she has represented clients concerning defamatory statements made about them by various media outlets. She also has handled litigation pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which supplements the First Amendment in that state.
Immediately prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Nicole practiced in the criminal defense, investigations and civil litigation practice in the Washington, D.C., office of a large international law firm. Prior to joining the law firm, she served as a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section, where she prosecuted FCPA, securities and commodities, procurement and health care fraud cases, as well as cases involving fraud against the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
As a prosecutor, she also led criminal investigations in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and in parallel with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the then-UK Financial Services Authority and other international antitrust regulators. Nicole was one of the first prosecutors of cases involving the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other international bank interest rates. She also tried one of the National Century Financial Enterprises cases in the Southern District of Ohio, then the largest private financial frauds committed to date.
Nicole is also an active member of the pro bono community — taking a substantial role in capital murder cases at the trial and U.S. Supreme Court appellate levels, and serving as a member of the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Task Force on Law Enforcement Body Cameras. She also led a team that prepared a revision of The Constitution Project’s publication, Irreversible Error: Recommended Reforms for Preventing and Correcting Errors in the Administration of Capital Punishment.
