Blog
FBI Raid This Morning What Do I Do
Contents
Last Updated on: 12th November 2025, 02:33 am
This article by the Spodek Law Group is designed to answer the question: The FBI raided me this morning, what do I do?
It’s likely either you, or a loved one, was the target of the FBI raid, and now you’re on Google – trying to figure out what happens next. Where do you go from here? Many people often, are confused, and lost. They never thought this would happen. Most don’t know any attorneys. Most don’t know what to expect. Often, the criminal lawyer who handles your DUI is not the same attorney you want handling your federal case involving the FBI.
You opened the door at 6am to FBI agents. Search warrant in hand. Your home’s being searched right now – or they just left – and you’re terrified, your stomach hasn’t stopped churning. Your family saw everything. Your neighbors saw the vehicles. You’re frantically searching for what happens next.
The Spodek Law Group is a top rated federal criminal defense law firm recognized nationwide for handling cases others say are unwinnable. Our managing partner, Todd Spodek, is a second-generation criminal defense attorney with many, many years of experience defending clients in federal investigations. He was the lawyer of Anna Delvey in the case that became a Netflix series. We’ve been featured in major media outlets like the NY Post and Newsweek. When FBI agents raid your home, you need attorneys who understand what’s actually happening and what you should do in the next 48 hours.
What Actually Just Happened (And What Started Months Ago)
The FBI raid this morning isn’t the beginning – it’s the middle. They’ve been investigating you for 6-12 months before they knocked on your door. Six to twelve months. While you were living your life, they were pulling bank records, interviewing witnesses, reviewing financial documents, building probable cause. Building their case. A federal magistrate doesn’t sign a search warrant because agents suspect something. They sign it because agents presented months of investigation proving probable cause exists. But here’s the thing – they’ve already decided you’re guilty.
The average timeline from SAR filing to raid execution is 8-14 months in white-collar cases. That Suspicious Activity Report your bank filed? That happened almost a year ago. Almost a year. The raid is the confirmation they have enough evidence to convince a judge – not that they’re starting to look.
Here’s what that means for you – don’t volunteer information thinking you’re “clearing things up.” They already have their narrative. Your job isn’t explanation, it’s defense. Every word you said to those agents this morning while they were searching, every casual comment, that’s being documented right now. Evidence.
The fact they showed up at 6am – that’s not random. Early morning raids are designed to catch you disoriented, groggy, half-awake. Research shows suspects questioned immediately after waking demonstrate reduced cognitive performance. The feds know this. The grogginess works in their favor. Even if you think you want to cooperate eventually, do NOT answer questions at 6:30am while agents are tearing through your home.
The 48-72 Hour Window
If FBI agents left without arresting you – that’s significant. Federal law requires that if they don’t have an arrest warrant or indictment when they execute a search, they must bring you before a magistrate within 72 hours of any arrest. This creates a narrow strategic window. This 48-72 hour period is the ONLY opportunity you have before the charging decision gets made. After an indictment is filed, your negotiation power drops dramatically. Pre-indictment, prosecutors have full discretion: decline prosecution, refer to civil enforcement, reduce charge severity, allow cooperation. Post-indictment? That discretion is gone. Gone.
Hour 1-24: FBI is inventorying evidence, prosecutors are being notified, other agents are interviewing your employees and associates. Your attorney should be identifying which prosecutor is assigned by end of Day 1. The window – the only window – when your lawyer can potentially shape the charging decision BEFORE it’s made is RIGHT NOW. Not next week. Not when you’ve had time to process everything. Right now.
Hour 25-48: Your attorney should make initial contact with the prosecutor to assess the charging timeline and whether pre-indictment proffer opportunity exists. This is where pre-indictment intervention actually happens – when your lawyer is negotiating immunity agreements or substantial assistance agreements or showing prosecutors why this case doesn’t meet their prosecution priorities. But only if you have counsel immediately. Many, many people wait to call a lawyer. They spend the first few days in shock, talking to family, trying to understand what happened. By the time they reach out, the 48-hour window closed. We’ve seen this many, many times in our practice.
Hour 49-72: The window is closing. Prosecutors may be scheduling grand jury proceedings. If you waited a week to hire an attorney, this opportunity is gone. We’re available 24/7 because raids don’t happen on convenient schedules and charging decisions don’t wait – 212-300-5196.
What’s Happening Right Now
While you’re focused on the raid, other operations are happening simultaneously. Standard FBI protocol – primary search warrant at your location, secondary teams conducting “knock and talks” with witnesses. While agents were searching your home this morning, other agents were knocking on your business partner’s door, your employee’s door, your accountant’s door. Right now.
These people – the ones who work with you – don’t have attorneys. They don’t know they can refuse to answer. And they’re making statements right now that become evidence in your case. Your employees need counsel immediately – not next week, but today. Today. Once they give statements, those statements are locked in. Inconsistencies between what they said today and what they say later? That becomes obstruction.
The devices they seized – phones and computers – they locked those down on-site because 2025 FBI warrant applications specifically request “immediate device access to prevent remote deletion via cloud services.” They’re worried you’ll delete evidence remotely after they leave, when you’ve had time to think, when panic sets in, when you realize what’s happening, when you’re gonna try to protect yourself. That’s why they locked everything down before leaving your property. What device seizure reveals – if they’re seizing electronics, they DON’T already have complete digital evidence. They suspect it exists but need the devices to confirm. Your phone. Your computer. Gone for months. Expect to be without your devices for 6-12 months minimum.
Will You Actually Be Charged?
Not every FBI raid leads to prosecution. Federal white-collar prosecutions declined 10% in 2025 – only 3,862 projected prosecutions for FY2025, down from 4,332 in FY2024. Meanwhile, FBI raids haven’t decreased proportionally. Many raids are intelligence-gathering that don’t result in charges, when prosecutors decide the case isn’t strong enough, when the economics don’t justify trial costs, when they’re just trying to scare you into cooperation, when they realize the evidence doesn’t support what they thought it did.
Prosecutors use a formula, even though they won’t admit it: Amount involved × Documentation fraud severity × Defendant sophistication = Charging likelihood.
Under $50k + Partial documentation + First offense = 85% civil recovery territory. $50k-$150k + Documentation issues = 40-60% prosecution (the gray zone where pre-indictment intervention works). Over $150k + Falsified documents + Prior issues = 90%+ criminal prosecution.
Then there’s geography. This is where things get absurd: SDNY – Southern District of New York – earned its reputation as the “Sovereign District” for being exceptionally aggressive. SDNY prosecutes cases that other districts would refer to civil enforcement. EDNY (Eastern District) has different prosecutor culture, different outcomes for similar conduct.
Pre-indictment intervention success rates vary dramatically by district. Central District of California sees 40% success rate for cases under $100k. SDNY? 15%. Same conduct, different outcome based on where you are. Based on geography. You don’t get to choose – it’s determined by where the things they say you did occurred. Geographic lottery. Completely absurd.
Unlike other law firms who assume you’ll be charged and start preparing for trial immediately, we understand the economics. We know which cases prosecutors actually want and which ones they’re using to pressure bigger targets – which ones they’re gonna use as leverage to go after someone else.
The Catastrophic Mistakes
The property receipt they left – that’s your first piece of discovery. What’s listed reveals what they think is important. Financial records = fraud theory. Communications = conspiracy theory. Documents from specific time period = they have informant testimony about that period. What’s NOT on the receipt but should be? If they seized attorney-client privileged materials without privilege protections noted, you can file immediate motion for return of property. Immediately.
The catastrophic mistake we see – talking to FBI agents without counsel, thinking cooperation shows you have nothing to hide. Client talked to agents on raid day, tried to explain the business, made three statements that turned out inconsistent with seized documents. Three statements became three counts of 18 USC 1001 – making false statements to federal agents. False statements. Five years each. Fifteen years total. What started as potential civil matter became a felony case because he thought talking would help.
The Fifth Amendment protects your right to remain silent – not because you’re guilty, but because humans are terrible witnesses about their own conduct under stress. You’ll misremember dates, estimate numbers incorrectly, contradict yourself. Under pressure. Half-awake. Terrified. Every inconsistency becomes “false statements.”
Don’t destroy anything. Not emails, not documents, not texts. Nothing. 18 USC 1519 makes obstruction of justice a separate 20-year felony – but they don’t care about the statute, they’re gonna throw the book at you. Destroying evidence after a raid proves consciousness of guilt, adds mandatory consecutive sentences, and turns judges against you. Permanently.
Don’t discuss the raid with anyone except your attorney. Friends, family, business partners – those conversations aren’t privileged. Every person can be subpoenaed. “My client told me right after the raid that he knew the documents were wrong” – that statement from your business partner destroys your defense before you make it.
Cooperation requires strategic analysis, not panic response. Cooperation can help when your attorney negotiates immunity or substantial assistance agreements BEFORE you say anything. Cooperating without a deal? You’re giving the government free evidence against yourself.
The FBI raided your home this morning. While you’re reading this, prosecutors are deciding whether to charge you. We’re the Spodek Law Group. We’ve defended clients in your exact situation many, many times in our combined decades of practice. We understand federal investigations and what happens in that critical window between raid and indictment. Call us now – 212-300-5196.