Barry Boss

Practice Areas

Barry is co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department and co-chair of the firm's White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Group.

Career

Barry focuses his practice on complex criminal matters, particularly involving allegations of white-collar crime in federal court. Barry has extensive jury trial and appellate experience and has successfully defended individuals and corporations under scrutiny for a wide range of criminal activity throughout the country, including price-fixing, money laundering, fraud, environmental offenses, gambling, bribery, corruption, and racketeering. He also advises individuals, including senior and c-suite executives, in complex internal and government-facing investigations, often involving several multinational jurisdictions and authorities. Barry has significant experience in sentencing and currently serves as a co-chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Sentencing Committee. He frequently writes and speaks about sentencing issues, and serves as a sentencing expert for national media organizations. Barry co-authors Federal Criminal Practice, an 800-page treatise for criminal defense attorneys. Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor in April 2004, Barry was an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C.

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association; American Board of Criminal Lawyers; DC Association of Criminal Lawyers; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Courts.

Publications

Rerouting the Wire Act: Can Statutory Interpretation Save the Wire Act from the Threat of Intermediate Routing Prosecutions? [Gaming International Online] - Oct. 1, 2021

How the Economic Loss Guideline Lost its Way, and How to Save It [Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law] - Aug.23, 2021

The Department of Justice Announces the First-of-its-Kind Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework [Alert] - Oct. 9, 2020

Half-Baked: The Yates Memo Calls for Charging More Offenders, But How Do We Sentence Them? - July 2, 2018

Understanding the DOJ's Airlines Antitrust Investigation [Corporate Counsel] - Aug. 3, 2015

Immaculate Suspension: Non-Analytical Positive Doping Violations from USADA to MLB [Entertainment and Sports Lawyer] - Mar. 31, 2014

Experience

Negotiated a settlement agreement with the potential to revolutionize the U.S. sports-betting market on behalf of Laura Varela and 5Dimes, a popular offshore sportsbook in Costa Rica. The U.S. Department of Justice had been investigating illegal gambling and money-laundering activity associated with 5Dimes and Ms. Varela’s husband at the time of his death in 2018. Our team negotiated an unprecedented resolution with prosecutors in the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s Office that resolved 5Dimes’s legal liability and that allowed Ms. Varela to reposition the sportsbook to enter the regulated U.S. sports-betting industry. Further, the Government expressly agreed to advise state regulators, banks, and investors about her extraordinary cooperation and impressive efforts to transform 5Dimes into a lawful, regulated company.

Represented in federal court an indicted individual from outside the United States who ran a popular online poker and sports betting site and faced 20 years in prison and $150 million in forfeiture. Successfully negotiated a misdemeanor plea agreement involving no incarceration and a much-reduced financial obligation. The client pleaded guilty and was sentenced without ever having to travel to the United States.

Defended the founder of a well-known internet gambling site against felony charges pursued over a five-year period by federal prosecutors. Ultimately, prosecutors dropped the felony charges in exchange for a guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge, resulting in a sentence of unsupervised probation and payment of a fine. The client also was able to reacquire a domain name that had been forfeited during the course of the prosecution. The resolution of the matter was covered by Forbes magazine.

Represented numerous senior executives and corporate clients in internal investigations and enforcement matters of highly confidential and sensitive nature, involving allegations of money laundering, public corruption, obstruction of justice, mail, wire and bank fraud, illegal gambling, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, securities violations, and tax fraud.

Successfully represented the Full Tilt Poker companies in a civil forfeiture matter brought by the Department of Justice in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Also, secured a dismissal of a putative class action in the Southern District of Illinois brought against the company seeking damages related to alleged gambling losses.

Industry Sector Expertise

Cannabis

Gaming

Cryptocurency and Blockchain

Sports

Health Care

Financial Services

Export Controls

Environmental Crimes

Work Highlights

Barry has extensive jury trial and appellate experience and has successfully defended individuals and corporations under scrutiny for a wide range of criminal activity throughout the country, including price-fixing, money laundering, fraud, environmental offenses, gambling, bribery, corruption, and racketeering. He also advises individuals, including senior and C-suite executives, in complex internal and government-facing investigations, often involving multiple multinational jurisdictions and authorities.

Barry also has significant experience in sentencing. He served as a co-chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Sentencing Committee and a co-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Practitioners Advisory Group. Barry frequently writes and speaks about sentencing issues, and serves as a sentencing expert for national media organizations.

Barry is a co-author of Federal Criminal Practice, an 800-page treatise for criminal defense attorneys.

Education

Awards

Expert in these Jurisdictions

District of Columbia

Maryland