Received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) for My EIDL Loan: Now What? | Federal Fraud Defense
So your probably in complete shock right now because you just received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Department of Justice Civil Division or maybe the SBA Office of Inspector General demanding massive amounts of documents and information about your EIDL loan. Maybe the envelope arrived by certified mail and your hands were shaking when you opened it. Maybe your lawyer just forwarded you a CID they received on your behalf and said you need to respond within 20 days. Or maybe your trying to figure out what the hell a “Civil Investigative Demand” even is and why the federal goverment is demanding all your business records, bank statements, tax returns, and emails going back years. Look, we get it. Your ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED because this looks like a subpoena but worse, and the deadlines are tight, and ignoring it isn’t an option. And you know what? You should be taking this seriously! Because a CID means the Department of Justice is investigating potential False Claims Act violations related to your EIDL loan, and the penalties for fraud include treble damages, fines up to $27,894 per false claim, and potential criminal prosecution!
We’ve represented dozens of clients who received Civil Investigative Demands related to PPP and EIDL loans, and we know exactly how to respond to protect your rights while complying with federal law. A CID is not a criminal subpoena, it’s an administrative demand issued under 31 U.S.C. § 3733 as part of a civil fraud investigation, but make no mistake, how you respond will determine whether you face civil liability, criminal charges, or both.
The worst thing you can do is ignore a CID or try to respond without experienced legal counsel. The second worst thing is to produce documents without carefully reviewing what your providing and whether your inadvertently giving the goverment evidence they’ll use to prove fraud. This article explains what a Civil Investigative Demand is, what it means when you receive one for your EIDL loan, what your required to produce, how to respond properly, and how we can protect you throughout this process.
What Is a Civil Investigative Demand (CID)?
A Civil Investigative Demand is an administrative subpoena that allows the Department of Justice to demand documents, written interrogatory answers, and oral testimony from individuals and businesses during False Claims Act investigations. Unlike a grand jury subpoena used in criminal investigations, a CID is issued unilaterally by DOJ attorneys without court approval as part of a civil fraud investigation under the False Claims Act.
The False Claims Act is the federal goverment’s primary tool for recovering money lost to fraud in federal programs like EIDL and PPP loans. 31 U.S.C. § 3729 makes it illegal to knowingly present a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the federal goverment. If prosecutors believe you submitted a false EIDL application to get loan money you weren’t entitled to, or if you misused EIDL funds in violation of the loan terms, they can pursue False Claims Act liability demanding repayment of three times the amount you received plus substantial civil penalties.
CIDs are authorized under 31 U.S.C. § 3733, which gives the Attorney General broad authority to issue demands for documents and testimony before filing a False Claims Act lawsuit. The DOJ uses CIDs to investigate allegations of fraud, gather evidence, determine the extent of losses, and decide whether to file a civil lawsuit or intervene in whistleblower cases. Basically, the CID is the goverment’s way of forcing you to produce evidence about your EIDL loan before they decide whether to sue you.
What makes CIDs particularly powerful is that they don’t require any court approval or probable cause determination. A DOJ attorney simply decides your EIDL loan warrants investigation, drafts a CID demanding whatever documents and information they want, and serves it on you with a deadline for compliance. You don’t get a hearing before a judge to challenge it before responding. You don’t get discovery to see what evidence the goverment has against you. You just get a demand with a tight deadline and the threat of enforcement if you don’t comply.
The scope of CIDs is usually extremely broad and burdensome. We’ve seen CIDs demanding every email mentioning the EIDL loan for the past five years, all business and personal bank account statements, complete tax returns, communications with accountants or loan preparers, board meeting minutes, employment records, and basically every document that could possibly relate to the loan application or use of funds. Complying with these demands requires significant time, expense, and legal strategy to avoid producing information that incriminates you or waives your legal privileges.
Why Did I Receive a CID About My EIDL Loan?
Receiving a Civil Investigative Demand means the Department of Justice is actively investigating potential False Claims Act violations related to your EIDL loan. This isn’t a routine audit or compliance check, it’s a formal fraud investigation that could result in civil and criminal penalties. Understanding why you received a CID helps you understand what evidence prosecutors likely have and what there investigating.
The most common reason is a whistleblower complaint filed under the False Claims Act. The FCA allows private individuals with knowledge of fraud to file qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the goverment and receive 15% to 30% of whatever money is recovered. The DOJ reported that fiscal year 2024 saw the highest number of whistleblower lawsuits in history, with over 250 False Claims Act settlements involving pandemic-related fraud.
Your CID might result from a complaint by a former business partner who knows you fabricated employee numbers or inflated payroll costs. An ex-employee who witnessed you misusing EIDL funds. An ex-spouse who revealed fraud during divorce proceedings. A competitor who analyzed your publicly available EIDL loan data and determined it was suspiciously high. Or even a professional data miner who developed algorithms to scan SBA loan databases looking for fraud indicators and filed a whistleblower case against you.
Once a whistleblower files a False Claims Act complaint, it remains under seal while the DOJ investigates to determine if the allegations have merit. The CID is how prosecutors gather evidence during this investigation period. Your probably receiving the CID months or even years after the original whistleblower complaint was filed, and you have no idea who reported you or what specific allegations there making.
SBA Office of Inspector General referrals also trigger CIDs. The OIG conducts its own investigations of suspicious EIDL loans using data analytics to identify red flags like discrepancies between your loan application and IRS tax records, multiple loans to related entities, businesses that didn’t exist before the pandemic, or suspicious use of funds flagged by banks. When the OIG develops evidence suggesting fraud, they refer the case to the DOJ for potential False Claims Act prosecution, and the DOJ issues CIDs to gather additional evidence.
Bank Suspicious Activity Reports are another source. If your bank filed a SAR reporting that you deposited EIDL funds and immediately made large cash withdrawals, purchased luxury items, wired money overseas, or engaged in other suspicious transactions, that report goes to FinCEN and federal prosecutors. The DOJ uses CIDs to investigate these reports and determine if the transactions constitute misuse of federal loan funds.
Random enforcement initiatives and data analytics by the DOJ itself also generate CIDs. Federal prosecutors are using sophisticated computer algorithms to analyze all SBA loan data looking for patterns that indicate fraud. Applications with implausibly high loan amounts relative to business size, inconsistent data across multiple applications, or businesses formed shortly before applying for loans get flagged for investigation, and CIDs are issued to gather evidence.
What Information Does a CID Demand?
Civil Investigative Demands typically request three categories of information: document production, written interrogatory responses, and oral testimony. The specific demands in your CID depend on what the DOJ is investigating about your EIDL loan, but most CIDs we see share common requests that are extraordinarily broad and burdensome.
Document production demands usually include all documents related to your EIDL loan application including the application itself, supporting documents you submitted, calculations of your loan amount, communications with the SBA or lender, and any documentation showing how you determined your eligibility. Complete business and personal tax returns for specified years, often going back five or more years before you applied for the loan. All bank account statements for business and personal accounts, credit card statements, and records of any financial transactions during specified time periods.
Employment and payroll records are heavily requested too, including IRS Form 941 payroll tax filings, state unemployment insurance reports, W-2 and 1099 forms, payroll registers, time sheets, employment contracts, and any documents showing who worked for your business and what they were paid. Business formation and operational documents like articles of incorporation, operating agreements, partnership agreements, business licenses, leases, and anything showing when your business was formed and whether it was actually operating.
Communications are alot of times demanded broadly. The CID might request all emails, text messages, and other communications mentioning the EIDL loan or SBA programs. Communications with accountants, bookkeepers, or anyone who helped prepare your loan application. Communications with business partners, investors, or employees about the loan. Even social media posts mentioning your business or the loan funds.
Written interrogatories require you to answer detailed questions under oath. These might include questions about how you calculated your loan amount, whether you had employees during specified periods, how you used the loan proceeds, who prepared your application, what your understanding of the eligibility requirements was, and whether you made any false statements. Your answers to interrogatories are sworn statements that can be used against you in civil or criminal proceedings, so they must be carefully crafted with your attorney’s guidance.
Oral testimony demands can compel you to appear for a deposition or investigative hearing where DOJ attorneys question you under oath. These sessions are recorded, transcripts are prepared, and your testimony becomes evidence the goverment can use. During oral testimony, prosecutors ask probing questions designed to lock you into specific statements, identify inconsistencies between your testimony and documents, and gather admissions they’ll use to prove fraud.
The scope of these demands is usually far broader than what’s actually necessary for the investigation. DOJ attorneys deliberately draft CIDs broadly hoping you’ll produce documents and information you don’t have to provide. Without experienced counsel reviewing your CID and negotiating with prosecutors, you might produce privileged communications, irrelevant personal information, or documents that incriminate you unnecessarily.
What Are My Obligations and Deadlines?
When you receive a Civil Investigative Demand, you have legal obligations to comply, but you also have rights that protect you from overbroad or burdensome requests. Understanding both your obligations and your rights is critical for responding appropriately without giving the goverment more than your required to provide.
Your primary obligation is to produce the demanded documents and information by the deadline specified in the CID. Most CIDs we see give between 20 and 30 days to respond, which sounds like alot of time but really isn’t when you consider the volume of materials demanded. If the CID demands documents, you must conduct a thorough search for responsive materials, collect everything that falls within the scope of the demand, review it for privilege and relevance, and produce it in the format specified.
If the CID includes interrogatories, you must provide written answers under oath. These answers must be truthful, complete, and responsive to each question asked. Making false statements in response to a CID violates 18 U.S.C. § 1001 which makes lying to federal investigators a crime carrying up to five years in prison. Even innocent misstatements or errors in your interrogatory responses can be charged as false statements, which is why your attorney must carefully review and approve every answer before you submit them.
If the CID demands oral testimony, you must appear at the specified time and place for your deposition or investigative hearing. Failing to appear after being properly served with a CID can result in contempt proceedings and enforcement actions in federal court. During testimony, you must answer questions truthfully, but you can invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination for questions where your answers would tend to incriminate you in a crime.
However, you don’t have to comply with every aspect of the CID exactly as written. You have the right to object to demands that are overly burdensome, not relevant to any legitimate investigative purpose, seek privileged information, or are unclear or ambiguous. You can negotiate with the DOJ to narrow the scope of document production, extend deadlines, limit interrogatories to relevant topics, or modify the terms of oral testimony.
The process for objecting or negotiating involves your attorney communicating with the DOJ attorney who issued the CID. We explain why certain demands are overbroad or burdensome, propose more limited production that still gives the goverment the information they legitimately need, and request reasonable extensions when necessary. Most DOJ attorneys are willing to negotiate reasonable modifications to CIDs because forcing someone to go to court to challenge the CID is time-consuming and expensive for the goverment too.
If negotiations fail and you believe the CID is unlawful or unconstitutionally burdensome, you can petition the federal district court to modify or quash the CID under 31 U.S.C. § 3733(j). But this is risky because courts give the DOJ substantial deference in fraud investigations, and challenging a CID often antagonizes prosecutors and signals your not cooperating. We usually only recommend formal challenges in extreme cases where the CID is clearly unlawful or compliance would be impossible.
Can I Ignore a CID or Refuse to Comply?
Absolutely NOT. Ignoring a Civil Investigative Demand or refusing to comply is one of the worst decisions you can make, and it will result in serious consequences that make your situation dramatically worse. CIDs have the force of law, and failing to respond is treated as contempt that can result in court enforcement, fines, and even criminal obstruction charges.
If you don’t respond to a CID by the deadline, the DOJ will petition the federal district court to enforce the CID under 31 U.S.C. § 3733(j)(2). The court will issue an order compelling you to comply and can impose fines for every day you remain in non-compliance. These fines accumulate quickly and can reach tens of thousands of dollars while your still trying to figure out what to do.
The court can also hold you in civil contempt, which means you can be jailed until you comply with the CID. Civil contempt is coercive, not punitive, so there’s no maximum jail term. You stay in jail until you produce the demanded documents and testimony. We’ve seen cases where people spent months in jail for refusing to comply with administrative subpoenas, and the same enforcement mechanism applies to CIDs.
Failing to comply also destroys any possibility of negotiating a favorable resolution with the DOJ. When prosecutors see that you ignored there CID or refused to respond, they assume your hiding evidence of fraud and being uncooperative. This hardens there position and makes them much more likely to file a False Claims Act lawsuit, seek maximum penalties, and refer the case for criminal prosecution. Cooperation and compliance, even when your producing documents that might be damaging, at least keeps the door open for negotiation and potential settlement.
Destroying or altering documents after receiving a CID is even worse and can result in criminal obstruction charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1519. This statute makes it a federal crime to destroy documents with intent to obstruct a federal investigation, and violations carry up to 20 years in prison. Even if prosecutors can’t prove the underlying EIDL fraud, they can convict you for obstruction based on destroying documents after you received the CID.
However, refusing to comply doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate or object to specific demands. Your attorney can communicate with the DOJ explaining why certain requests are overbroad, proposing more limited production, requesting extensions, or asserting privileges for certain documents. This is compliance through negotiation, not refusal, and prosecutors understand the difference.
The key is to respond by the deadline in some manner, even if that response is a letter from your attorney explaining your objections and proposing an alternative production schedule. Never simply ignore the CID and hope it goes away. It won’t, and the consequences of non-compliance are severe.
What Should I Do Immediately After Receiving a CID?
The moment you receive a Civil Investigative Demand, the clock starts ticking and your actions in the next few days will determine whether you protect your rights or destroy your defense. Follow these critical steps immediately to preserve your options and avoid making mistakes that can’t be fixed later.
First, contact a federal criminal defense attorney who specializes in False Claims Act cases and SBA fraud investigations immediately. Don’t wait. Don’t think about it. Don’t try to figure it out yourself first. Call us the same day you receive the CID because the deadlines are tight and we need time to review the demand, communicate with the DOJ, and develop a response strategy. Many clients wait too long before getting counsel, and by the time they call us, there’s only a week left to respond and we’re scrambling to meet deadlines that could have been extended if we’d been involved earlier.
Second, implement an immediate litigation hold on all documents that might be responsive to the CID. This means you must preserve every email, text message, financial record, tax document, business record, and any other material that could relate to your EIDL loan. Instruct employees not to delete anything. Suspend automatic document deletion policies. Make backups of computer systems. Turn off email auto-delete functions. Failing to preserve documents after receiving a CID can result in spoliation sanctions and obstruction charges, so document preservation must be your top priority.
Third, don’t talk to anyone about the CID except your attorney. Don’t discuss it with business partners, employees, accountants, or anyone else who might be involved in the investigation. Everything you say to these people can be subpoenaed and used against you because conversations with them aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege. Only communications with your lawyer are confidential and protected. We’ve seen cases where clients discussed the CID with there business partner, and then the DOJ interviewed the partner who told prosecutors everything the client said, giving the goverment damaging admissions.
Fourth, don’t start gathering documents or responding to the CID without your attorney’s guidance. It’s tempting to start collecting bank statements and tax returns to “get organized” but you might inadvertently destroy documents, alter files, or change metadata in ways that look like your tampering with evidence. Let your attorney direct the document collection process to ensure it’s done properly and defensibly.
Fifth, don’t contact the DOJ attorney who issued the CID to try to explain your situation or clear up misunderstandings. Anything you say to prosecutors can be used against you, and without counsel present, your likely to make statements that hurt your case. All communication with the DOJ should go through your lawyer who knows how to protect your rights while maintaining a cooperative posture.
Finally, be honest with your attorney about everything. We need to know the truth about your EIDL loan application, how you used the funds, any false statements you might have made, and any evidence that could be problematic. We can’t defend you effectively if your hiding information from us. Everything you tell us is protected by attorney-client privilege and stays confidential, but we need complete honesty to develop the defense strategy.
How Can a Lawyer Help Me Respond to a CID?
Responding to a Civil Investigative Demand without experienced legal counsel is like performing surgery on yourself, it’s theoretically possible but the outcome is almost certainly going to be terrible. A federal defense attorney who specializes in False Claims Act cases and SBA fraud provides critical protection and expertise throughout the entire CID response process.
We start by carefully reviewing the CID to understand exactly what the DOJ is demanding and what there investigating. We analyze each document request to determine what’s responsive, what’s overly broad, and what might be privileged. We review interrogatories to identify questions that are improper, ambiguous, or designed to elicit incriminating admissions. We assess whether oral testimony demands are reasonable or should be challenged. This initial review allows us to develop a comprehensive response strategy that complies with legitimate demands while protecting your rights.
We communicate with the DOJ attorney who issued the CID to negotiate modifications, extensions, and clarifications. Most CIDs contain requests that are broader than necessary, and experienced counsel can negotiate to narrow the scope of production significantly. We might convince prosecutors that certain document categories aren’t relevant to there investigation. We might negotiate a rolling production schedule instead of having to produce everything at once. We might get deadlines extended from 20 days to 45 or 60 days to give us adequate time for thorough document review.
We conduct the document collection process properly to ensure completeness and defensibility. We identify all potential sources of responsive documents including computer systems, email accounts, cloud storage, phones, and paper files. We work with IT professionals to collect electronic data in forensically sound ways that preserve metadata and prevent allegations of tampering. We review collected documents for relevance, privilege, and potential problems before production.
Attorney-client privilege and work product protection are critical considerations in CID responses. Many documents you might think you have to produce are actually protected from disclosure. Communications with your lawyer about the EIDL loan or the investigation are privileged. Documents your attorney prepared in anticipation of litigation are work product. Tax return preparation materials might be protected under the tax practitioner privilege in some circumstances. We review every document to identify privileged materials and assert those privileges properly so the DOJ can’t access confidential communications.
We prepare your written interrogatory responses carefully to provide truthful answers without volunteering unnecessary information or making admissions that can be used against you. Interrogatory questions are often designed to lock you into specific statements that prosecutors will later use to prove fraud. We craft answers that respond to the questions accurately while preserving your defenses and avoiding statements that could be misinterpreted or taken out of context.
If the CID demands oral testimony, we prepare you extensively before the deposition or investigative hearing. We review what topics will be covered, practice how to answer questions truthfully while avoiding volunteer information, and prepare you to invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege for questions where answers would incriminate you. We’re there during the testimony to object to improper questions, clarify ambiguities, and protect you from prosecutorial tactics designed to trap you into making inconsistent statements.
Throughout the process, we’re evaluating whether cooperation and compliance is the right strategy or whether challenging the CID makes sense. We assess the strength of the goverment’s case based on what there investigating and what documents exist. We look for opportunities to present exculpatory evidence showing you didn’t commit fraud. We explore whether voluntary disclosure and settlement might resolve the matter without False Claims Act litigation or criminal charges.
We also evaluate your exposure to criminal prosecution, not just civil liability. False Claims Act investigations often run parallel to criminal investigations, and the DOJ can refer your case for criminal prosecution under wire fraud, bank fraud, or false statements statutes. We analyze whether your conduct involved criminal intent versus good faith mistakes, and we develop defense strategies that work for both civil and criminal exposure.
What Are the Possible Outcomes After Responding to a CID?
After you respond to a Civil Investigative Demand, the DOJ will review your production and determine how to proceed with there investigation. Understanding the possible outcomes helps you know what to expect and how to position yourself for the possible result.
The outcome is that the DOJ declines to intervene or pursue the case. If the CID resulted from a whistleblower complaint, the DOJ has to decide whether to intervene in the qui tam lawsuit or let the whistleblower proceed on there own. If prosecutors review your CID response and determine the evidence doesn’t support fraud allegations, they might decline to intervene, and most whistleblower cases dismissed without DOJ involvement. We’ve successfully responded to CIDs in ways that convinced prosecutors our clients didn’t commit fraud and the investigation should be closed.
Settlement is another possible outcome. Even if the DOJ believes you violated the False Claims Act, they might be willing to settle for repayment of the loan amount plus civil penalties rather than filing a lawsuit. Civil settlements can resolve False Claims Act liability and prevent criminal prosecution. We’ve negotiated settlements where our clients repaid there EIDL loans with interest and paid modest penalties, but avoided treble damages, per-claim penalties, and criminal charges.
The DOJ might also issue additional CIDs requesting more information based on what they found in your initial response. Sometimes your production raises new questions or identifies other individuals or entities that need to be investigated. Follow-up CIDs are common in complex fraud investigations, and each one requires the same careful response process.
If the DOJ determines the evidence supports fraud, they’ll file a False Claims Act lawsuit or intervene in the whistleblower’s qui tam case. False Claims Act liability includes treble damages, meaning if you fraudulently obtained a $100,000 EIDL loan, the civil liability is $300,000. Plus civil penalties of between $13,946 and $27,894 per false claim under current law. These penalties are adjusted for inflation regularly. If your loan application contained multiple false statements, each one could be charged as a seperate claim multiplying the penalties.
Criminal referral is the worst outcome. If prosecutors believe your conduct was intentional fraud, they’ll refer the case to the DOJ Criminal Division for prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (wire fraud), 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (bank fraud), or 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements). Criminal charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 30 years, criminal fines, mandatory restitution, and all the collateral consequences of a federal felony conviction.
The timeline for these outcomes varies substantially. Some investigations resolve within months if the evidence clearly shows fraud or clearly shows no fraud. Others drag on for years with multiple rounds of CIDs, depositions, and negotiations before the DOJ makes a final decision. The 10-year statute of limitations for False Claims Act cases means prosecutors have plenty of time to investigate EIDL loans received in 2020 and 2021.
What If the CID Results From a Whistleblower Case?
Many Civil Investigative Demands related to EIDL loans result from qui tam whistleblower lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act. These cases follow a unique process that’s important to understand because it affects how you should respond to the CID and what outcomes are possible.
Under the False Claims Act, private individuals with knowledge of fraud can file lawsuits on behalf of the federal goverment. These whistleblowers are called “relators” and they stand to receive 15% to 30% of whatever money the goverment recovers. The qui tam lawsuit is filed under seal, meaning it’s kept secret from you while the DOJ investigates the allegations. The CID is part of that sealed investigation period.
You don’t get to see the whistleblower’s complaint while it’s under seal, so you don’t know exactly what allegations there making or what evidence they claim to have. The DOJ uses CIDs to gather information to determine if the whistleblower’s allegations are credible and whether the goverment should intervene in the case.
If the DOJ declines to intervene after investigating, the whistleblower can still pursue the case on there own, but most qui tam cases without DOJ involvement get dismissed or settled for minimal amounts. Whistleblowers rarely have the resources to litigate complex fraud cases against well-funded defendants, so DOJ declination often means the end of the case.
If the DOJ intervenes, the goverment takes over the lawsuit and the whistleblower continues as a party entitled to a share of any recovery. DOJ intervention signals that prosecutors believe the fraud allegations are strong and there pursuing the case aggressively. Intervened qui tam cases usually result in either substantial settlements or trials with potentially massive damages.
The whistleblower’s identity might be someone you know or it might be a professional data miner you’ve never heard of. We’ve seen cases where the whistleblower was a business partner, ex-spouse, former employee, competitor, or even an accountant who helped prepare the loan application and later realized it contained false information. Other cases involve professional qui tam plaintiffs who use algorithms to scan public SBA loan data looking for fraud indicators and file cases against dozens of borrowers simultaneously.
Your CID response should be crafted with the whistleblower case in mind. We’re not just responding to the DOJ, we’re providing information that might convince prosecutors the whistleblower’s allegations are wrong or exaggerated. If we can show that what looks like fraud was actually a good faith mistake, or that you had a reasonable basis for the representations on your application, prosecutors might decline to intervene even if the whistleblower wants to proceed.
Why You Need Our Firm to Handle Your CID Response
Responding to a Civil Investigative Demand about your EIDL loan is not something you should attempt without specialized legal counsel. The stakes are too high, the process is too complex, and the consequences of mistakes are too severe. Our firm has extensive experience defending clients in False Claims Act investigations and SBA fraud cases, and we know exactly how to respond to CIDs to protect your rights and minimize your exposure.
We understand how DOJ attorneys think and what there looking for in CID responses. We know which document requests are standard and which are unusually aggressive. We know what interrogatory questions are designed to elicit incriminating admissions and how to answer truthfully while preserving your defenses. We know when to negotiate modifications to the CID and when pushing back will antagonize prosecutors unnecessarily.
We conduct thorough document reviews to identify privileged materials that don’t have to be produced. We assert attorney-client privilege, work product protection, and other applicable privileges properly so the DOJ can’t access your confidential communications. We review every document before production to identify potential problems and develop strategies to address them.
We negotiate with DOJ attorneys to narrow overly broad demands, extend unrealistic deadlines, and limit burdensome requests. Most CIDs can be narrowed significantly through skilled negotiation, reducing your compliance costs and preventing production of materials that aren’t actually relevant to the investigation. We maintain a cooperative but firm posture that shows your willing to comply with legitimate demands while protecting your rights against overreach.
We prepare comprehensive written responses to interrogatories that provide accurate answers without making unnecessary admissions. We prepare you thoroughly for oral testimony if the CID demands a deposition. We evaluate whether settlement is possible and negotiate with prosecutors to resolve the matter without litigation or criminal prosecution.
Throughout the process, we’re analyzing your exposure to both civil liability and criminal prosecution. We identify weaknesses in the goverment’s case and develop defenses showing you didn’t commit fraud. We gather exculpatory evidence demonstrating good faith and lack of criminal intent. We position you for the possible outcome whether that’s declination, settlement, or defending against a False Claims Act lawsuit or criminal charges.
The cost of hiring experienced counsel to respond to a CID is minimal compared to the potential damages and penalties you face. False Claims Act treble damages plus civil penalties can easily reach millions of dollars even for moderate-sized EIDL loans. Criminal convictions result in prison time, fines, restitution, and permanent felony records. Investing in proper legal representation now can save you from financial ruin and incarceration.
Received a Civil Investigative Demand about your EIDL loan?
Don’t respond without expert legal counsel!
Contact us immediately – Deadlines are tight and mistakes are costly!
A Civil Investigative Demand is serious business that requires immediate attention and expert legal representation. Don’t try to handle this yourself. Don’t ignore it and hope it goes away. And don’t respond without understanding the full implications of what your producing and saying. Contact our firm today for a confidential consultation and let us protect your rights, your assets, and your freedom while responding to the DOJ’s investigation of your EIDL loan.