FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWYERS

How to Find Out If You’re Under Federal Investigation

You typed this question into a search engine because you need certainty. Something feels wrong – maybe an agent left a card, maybe a colleague mentioned being questioned, maybe your bank is acting strange – and you desperately want to know for sure. Are they investigating you or not?

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you an honest answer even when that answer is uncomfortable. What you’re about to read is not what you want to hear. But it might be the most important thing you read today.

Here is the truth that other articles avoid telling you directly: you cannot find out if you’re under federal investigation. There is no database to check. There is no request you can file that will give you certainty. There is no phone call that will produce a straight answer. The system is specifically designed to keep you in the dark until prosecutors decide the moment is right to reveal themselves.

The Question You Cannot Actually Answer

Every other article on this topic will give you a list of “signs” and “indicators” that suggest investigation. Target letters. Subpoenas. Agents at your door. Those articles are useful – we’ll cover those signs too – but they all dance around the fundamental problem.

Maybe I can just find out for sure…

No. You cant. And heres why that matters strategically.

Federal investigations are conducted in complete secrecy. Under Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, everything that happens before a grand jury is secret. Prosecutors cant talk about it. Grand jurors cant talk about it. Witnesses are typically instructed not to talk about it. The entire apparatus is designed to prevent you from knowing until the government is ready for you to know.

There is no constitutional right to be informed that your under investigation. The FBI has no obligation to tell you anything. And the average federal investigation runs for eighteen months to five years before any public action is taken. During that entire time, while your living your normal life, a team of federal agents and prosecutors is building a case file with your name on it. They are pulling financial records. They are interviewing your colleagues and business partners. They are examining every email you’ve sent and every transaction youve made.

All while you have no idea.

Why the FBI Doesn’t Have to Tell You

Think about it from the governments perspective for a moment. If they had to notify investigation targets, what would happen? Targets would destroy evidence. Targets would flee the jurisdiction. Targets would coordinate stories with co-conspirators. The entire point of investigative secrecy is to preserve the governments ability to build cases without interference.

This secrecy is not a bug in the system. Its the core feature.

The FBI can use grand jury subpoenas to compel banks, employers, phone companies, and internet providers to turn over your records. Many of these subpoenas come with gag orders preventing the recipient from telling you they recieved it. Your bank might be handing over years of account statements right now, and they are legaly prohibited from giving you a heads up.

At Spodek Law Group, weve represented clients who discovered – only after charges were filed – that the FBI had been investigating them for three years. Three years of emails collected. Three years of financial records analyzed. Three years of witnesses interviewed. All while our client went about there normal life having no idea anything was happening.

The investigation wasnt hiding in plain sight. It was completly invisible until prosecutors decided to make it visible.

The FOIA Myth

Maybe I should just file a FOIA request with the FBI…

This is what people think when they first start researching this question. The Freedom of Information Act exists. The FBI has a FOIA portal. You can submit a request asking for any records they have about you. Simple, right?

Heres what actualy happens.

FOIA contains nine exemptions – categories of information the government can legaly withhold. Exemption 7 specificaly protects records compiled for law enforcement purposes. If releasing the records could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, the FBI simply doesnt have to give them to you.

So you file your FOIA request. Months later, you get a response. It says one of two things:

“No responsive records found.”

Or:

“Records exist but are exempt from disclosure under Exemption 7.”

Both responses tell you absolutly nothing. If no records were found, maybe theres no investigation. Or maybe theres an investigation and theyre just not disclosing it. If records are withheld under Exemption 7, that confirms something exists – but not what it is or whether your a target.

The FOIA process is designed to provide government transparency. Its not designed to tip off investigation targets. When you file that request hoping for clarity, you get the same uncertainty you started with.

What “Finding Out” Actually Means

Heres the information paradox that nobody explains to you upfront.

Every method of “finding out” if your under investigation is actualy confirmation that your already in trouble. The moment you gain information is the moment its too late for that information to help you proactivly.

Think about this carefully:

If your lawyer contacts the US Attorneys Office and they confirm an investigation exists, that investigation is already far along. Prosecutors dont confirm investigations in there early stages. By the time theyre willing to acknowledge anything, theyve likely been building the case for a year or more. Probably longer.

If a friend or colleague tells you they were interviewed about you by the FBI, the investigation is already far along. The FBI doesnt start by interviewing peripheral witnesses. They work there way outward from the center. If theyre talking to people you know, theyve already gathered substantial evidence from other sources.

If you recieve a target letter, the investigation is essentially over. A target letter means prosecutors have already decided your probably going to be charged. Theyre giving you a chance to respond before the indictment, but the decision has basicly been made.

Todd Spodek has represented hundreds of clients in federal investigations. And heres what he tells every single one of them: if your trying to “find out” whether your under investigation, your asking the wrong question. The right question is: what should I do if I might be under investigation?

Because the moment you have any indication at all – any sign, any hint, any suspicion – your already past the point where “finding out” provides strategic value.

The Proffer Trap

Some people think they can find out whats going on by agreeing to cooperate with the government. The prosecutor offers a proffer session – sometimes called “Queen for a Day” – where you supposedly get to tell your side of the story with some protection for what you say.

Never agree to a proffer session to “find out what’s happening.”

This is one of the most dangerous moves in federal criminal defense. Heres how it actualy works.

You sit down with prosecutors and FBI agents. They ask you questions. You answer honestly, thinking your protected by the proffer agreement. And technicaly, your direct statements cant be used against you in the governments case-in-chief.

But heres what the proffer agreement actualy allows:

Derivative use. Everything you say can be used to develop new leads, find new witnesses, and locate new evidence. That new evidence CAN be used against you. So you walk in hoping for information. You walk out having handed them a roadmap to your own prosecution.

Impeachment use. If your case ever goes to trial and you testify, everything you said in the proffer can be used to contradict you. Your trying to defend yourself on the stand, and the prosecutor pulls out your proffer statements to show the jury your story has changed.

Sentencing use. Under 18 USC 3661, proffer statements must be disclosed to the sentencing court. Even if they couldnt use your words to convict you, they can use them to give you a longer sentence after conviction.

Clients come to Spodek Law Group after making this exact mistake. They thought the proffer would give them information about the investigation. Instead, it gave the investigation information about them – information that made there situation dramatically worse.

Signs That Suggest (But Don’t Confirm) Investigation

With all of that said, there are indicators that suggest you might be under federal investigation. These are not certainties. They are not confirmations. But they are signals that something might be happening behind the scenes.

A target letter arrives. This is the clearest sign, but its also the latest-stage indicator. If you recieve a target letter from the US Attorneys Office, your almost certainly going to be indicted unless something changes quickly.

FBI agents visit you. When agents show up at your door or your workplace, they already know alot about you. This isnt the beginning of there investigation. Its a late stage where theyre collecting final pieces.

A grand jury subpoena appears. If you recieve a subpoena for documents or testimony, the government is actively building a case that involves you somehow. Weather your a target, subject, or witness depends on factors only they know.

Your associates are being questioned. When friends, family, or colleagues mention being interviewed by federal agents about you or your business, the investigation is underway and has been for some time.

Accounts freeze unexpectedly. Banks dont freeze accounts randomly. If your finances suddenly become inaccessible, a court order might be involved – often connected to an investigation.

Surveillance appears. Unfamiliar vehicles parked near your home. Strangers who seem to be watching. Strange activity on your accounts or devices. These can indicate active monitoring.

Heres the uncomfortable reality you need to accept: you might already be indicted right now, reading this article, with a sealed indictment waiting in a court file somewhere. Sealed indictments stay secret until prosecutors decide to unseal them. There is no database you can check. No way to find out. You only learn about it when agents appear to execute an arrest warrant.

The Only Strategic Response

Stop trying to find out whether your under investigation. Start acting as if you are.

This is not paranoia. This is strategic clarity. Because every action that protects you if your under investigation also protects you if your not.

Stop talking. Do not discuss anything with anyone who isnt your attorney. Every conversation is potential evidence. Every friend could become a witness. Every colleague could be wearing a wire. The only truly privileged conversation you can have is with your lawyer.

Preserve everything. Do not delete emails. Do not throw away documents. Do not “clean up” your computer or phone. Destruction of evidence is a seperate federal crime, and prosecutors routinly stack obstruction charges on top of whatever else theyre investigating.

Get counsel immediately. Not tomorrow. Not after you “figure out whats happening.” Now. An experienced federal defense attorney can begin understanding your exposure, preserving your rights, and potentially intervening with prosecutors before decisions are final.

As Todd tells every client who walks through our door: the biggest mistakes happen before people hire a lawyer. They talk when they should be silent. They destroy when they should preserve. They wait when they should act. By the time they call us, theyre already fighting uphill.

If you suspect you might be under investigation, act as if you are – because you probably are.

The question isnt “how do I find out for sure.” The question is “what do I do while uncertainty remains.” And the answer is: protect yourself now, not later.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196 today. The conversation you have with us is protected by attorney-client privilege. Unlike any other conversation you might have, nothing you tell your lawyer can be used against you. Thats the only safe place to discuss your situation honestly.

Dont wait until your certain. By then, its often too late. Act now while you still have options. The investigation may have been running for years already. Your window to influence the outcome is closing. Every day you wait is a day you could have been building your defense instead.