Peter Hardy

Peter Hardy is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Philadelphia office. Mr. Hardy, a former federal prosecutor, is a national thought leader on the subject of anti-money laundering (AML), money laundering and criminal tax law.

Mr. Hardy advises corporations and individuals across a range of industries against allegations of financial fraud, including money laundering, tax fraud, mortgage fraud and lending law violations, securities fraud and public corruption. He also counsels financial institutions and businesses on their AML obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and other compliance requirements, including issues involving sanctions law, countering the financing of terrorism, money transmission, digital assets and cryptocurrency, cannabis and anti-corruption.

Mr. Hardy also handles complex civil litigation relating to allegations of fraud, including Ponzi schemes and fraudulent transfers. He conducts internal investigations, defends against grand jury investigations and has litigated complex criminal matters at the trial and appellate levels.

In addition, Mr. Hardy advises on potential disclosures to the IRS and counsels clients through every stage of a tax controversy, from audit through administrative appeal to litigation.

Mr. Hardy is the author of Criminal Tax, Money Laundering, and Bank Secrecy Act Litigation, a well-reviewed and comprehensive legal treatise concerning the investigation, prosecution and defense of criminal tax, money laundering and BSA cases, published by Bloomberg BNA.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Hardy was an attorney at a national law firm, where he was the founder of the AML team and the tax controversy team.

Before entering private practice, Mr. Hardy spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, where he focused on fraud and financial crime cases. He also served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division in Washington, D.C., where he tried criminal cases in a number of federal districts and helped write the department's Criminal Tax Manual.

Mr. Hardy served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable George E. Woods of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, as well as for the Honorable Cornelia G. Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Representative Experience

• Conducted numerous corporate internal investigations across a spectrum of industries, including investigations focused on potential BSA/AML, tax and other financial fraud violations, prompted by allegations by the federal government, private plaintiffs and/or company insiders and would-be whistleblowers; these engagements frequently involved advising on the response to criminal, civil and administrative government subpoenas, investigations and examinations
• Advised financial institutions and other companies, including non-bank lenders, gaming institutions and real estate industry participants, on regulatory compliance with BSA/AML, counterterrorism financing and anticorruption requirements, including the drafting and revising of compliance policies and procedures; developing risk assessments; advising whether a suspicious activity report (SAR) filing(s) is appropriate; conducting AML due diligence during merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions; determining whether to close customer accounts; compliance relating to bank and financial technology (FinTech) partnerships; helping institutions respond to government regulatory examinations, investigations and subpoenas; determining whether a business should register as a money services business or money transmitter; sanctions compliance; and providing BSA/AML advice specific to issues involving cryptocurrency, digital assets and cannabis
• Successfully defended a major financial institution in multiple complex civil lawsuits alleging that the financial institution violated its own BSA/AML procedures and contributed to misconduct perpetrated by former customers
• Successfully defended a major financial institution against aggressive discovery motions seeking sensitive financial institution BSA/AML materials, including BSA/AML/anti-fraud policies and internal investigatory documents generated through the financial institution's AML transaction monitoring processes
• Assisted a major industry group in drafting a comment letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regarding proposed AML regulations
• Advised financial institutions and other businesses on BSA/AML and money transmitter issues relating to the institutions' direct use of blockchain or cryptocurrency, including issues relating to hosting blockchain nodes, serving as an "omnibus" cryptocurrency bank, and potentially issuing stablecoins, or to the institutions' customers’ use of blockchain or cryptocurrency
• Successfully defended a major international corporation in a wide-ranging criminal tax investigation and civil tax audit relating to a 10-figure intercompany transaction and nine-figure monetary liability; the case resulted in no criminal charges and no fraud penalty
• Successfully defended a major insurance company in a regulatory investigation relating to multi-billion dollar tax structures involving related businesses and offshore entities
• Successfully defended numerous individuals and businesses accused of multi-million dollar federal tax fraud schemes, including alleged income tax evasion and payroll schemes
• Successfully convinced the IRS to abate an entire potential seven-figure penalty for a gaming institution client that allegedly failed to file IRS reporting forms for winnings by internet sports betting clients
• Engaged as an expert witness regarding application of FinCEN and U.S. banking rules to activity involving use of blockchain and digital assets
• Represented an investment firm under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for interfund loans involving alleged conflicts of interest; pursued related constitutional litigation regarding the ability of the SEC to pursue administrative enforcement actions that was the first of its kind