Ellard Talks on Business-Related Fraud at Ethics Lecture Series

On March 26, 2007, Dr. George Ellard, a partner at the well-known Washington, D.C., law firm of Baach, Robinson & Lewis spoke to a full house on a topic that has scorched at the fabric of modern society business-related fraud. This was part of the Smith Schools Business Ethics Lecture Series to foster the idea of integrity among students.

Ellard explains that there is so much debate on the topic of business ethics primarily because it requires a distinction between right and wrong. Unlike previous civilizations, which had an inherent belief in the existence of right and wrong, most college-age people in modern America instead believe that such moral judgments are relative and more a matter of personal preference. People who think otherwise are usually considered religious zealots or ignorant because they have no knowledge of past historical events, says Ellard.

Using the widely publicized espionage case of FBI official Robert Hansen, Ellard successfully paints a vivid picture of the difference between right and wrong. Over a career that spanned 23 years, Hansen sold national security secrets to the Soviets and Russians and also divulged the identities of top-ranking officials like Lieutenant General Dimitri Polyakov who were providing intelligence on these countries to the USA. While Hansen was motivated by sheer malice and financial incentives, Polyakov was motivated by a deep hatred of the Soviet system, which ruled by fear and intimidation, says Ellard.

This idea of right and wrong that applies to people also has useful application in the business world. The state recognizes corporations as artificial persons, says Ellard. They can be held liable under the criminal law for the acts of their employees, even acts that were not unauthorized or acts that employees were explicitly instructed against. Ellard stresses the fact that students of business during their careers will face decisions between right and wrong in their professional lives.

It is these decisions that although seemingly insignificant at that instance could result in a domino effect that could result in the destruction of an entire corporation.

George Ellard is a partner with Baach, Robinson & Lewis. He has had broad experience as a federal prosecutor, white-collar defense counsel, and a civil litigator. He specializes in conducting internal investigations, devising business controls, and advising domestic and foreign financial institutions and other business entities about compliance with U.S. criminal law and regulations. Ellard typically represents clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state prosecutorial and regulatory agencies.

In addition to a distinguished career in private practice, representing private parties in the criminal process, particularly in cases involving alleged securities and accounting fraud, Ellard has extensive governmental experience. He served as counsel to the congressional inquiry into the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001 and was responsible for drafting classified and public reports that recommended transformational changes in the structure of the intelligence and law-enforcement communities. He also served as chief of staff to a presidential commission that examined the counterintelligence programs of the FBI in the wake of the most damaging espionage in U.S. history, perpetrated by senior bureau official, Robert Hanssen. Ellard was also chief counsel to a senior U.S. senator and majority counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime.

As senior counsel in an investigation of a cabinet agency, Ellard secured five indictments centered on corruption in public office. He also conducted several sensitive investigations on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, reporting to the Office of the Attorney General.

Ellard received a J.D., as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy, from Yale University, where he was articles editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude from Fordham University and was for a year a member of the Philosophische Seminar at the niversitt Tbingen in Germany. He clerked for a senior judge on a U.S. Court of Appeals and has been an adjunct professor on the law faculty of Georgetown University and a professor of philosophy.