Rich Strassberg, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Litigation Department and chair of its White Collar Crime & Government Investigations Practice, specializes in white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, corporate regulatory practice, and complex business and financial litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Strassberg was the Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, responsible for supervising approximately 25 Assistant United States Attorneys in the prosecution of white collar criminal cases.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Mr. Strassberg is a member of the Federal Bar Council and holds the position of Master in the Federal Bar Council Inn of Court Program. He also is a member of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, the New York City Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Council and the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section. Mr. Strassberg has taught upper level students as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School and as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School. While a federal prosecutor, he served as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee - Subcommittee on Health Care Fraud and as the Health Care Fraud Coordinator for the Southern District of New York, United States Attorney’s Office. Mr. Strassberg served as the Chairperson of the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Fraud Task Force, as a member of the National Bankruptcy Fraud Working Group and as a United States Delegate to China as part of the State Department’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Exchange Program.
Mr. Strassberg is actively involved with pro-bono work and has served as a member of the SDNY Criminal Justice Act panel, representing indigent defendants in criminal cases. As part of his pro bono service, he has acted as standby-trial counsel to an indigent defendant and successfully argued a criminal appeal before the Second Circuit. Mr. Strassberg is also a Co-Chair of the UJA’s Criminal Law Group.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Mr. Strassberg is the author of an essay in the book Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, edited and introduced by Larry King. He was featured in a video interview by the New York Times and has been a legal commentator on various programs, including NPR, Fox News and Dateline. Mr. Strassberg has also published numerous articles in various legal periodicals on such topics as: parallel criminal and civil proceedings; prosecutions targeting attorneys; obstruction of justice; selective waiver of the attorney client privilege; honest services fraud; money laundering and the Patriot Act; and the Sentencing Guidelines. He has spoken on many white collar criminal issues, including: ethical considerations for lawyers; securities enforcement relating to derivatives; money laundering compliance; computer and internet crimes; the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; obstruction of justice prosecutions; business crime; and health care and bankruptcy fraud. Mr. Strassberg has been a guest speaker for various organizations, including the Federal Bar Council, the Massachusetts Bankers Association, the ABA Business Law Section, the Capital Region Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Department of Health and Human Services.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
As Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Strassberg was responsible for supervising approximately 25 Assistant United States Attorneys in the prosecution of white collar criminal cases, including corporate crimes, financial institution fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, money laundering, computer and internet crimes, intellectual property crimes, health care fraud, tax fraud, bankruptcy fraud, environmental crimes, and mail and wire frauds. Prior to becoming the Chief of Major Crimes, he was a member of the Southern District of New York Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, responsible for prosecuting some of the largest securities fraud cases in the country, including a $200 million initial public offering fraud scam. Throughout his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Strassberg personally handled all phases of the criminal prosecution of cases involving violations of the securities, anti-fraud, bankruptcy, tax, narcotics, money laundering and involuntary servitude laws, from investigation through trial and appeal, including the successful trial of multiple complex financial and securities frauds.
Following law school, Mr. Strassberg served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert J. Ward of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS
Mr. Strassberg is admitted to the New York State Bar, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
RECOGNITION
In 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, Mr. Strassberg was recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as being one of the top white collar litigators in New York. He was likewise honored by inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America and New York Super Lawyers.
In 2005, Mr. Strassberg was selected to present the Fifth Annual Korn Lecture at Cornell Law School. In 2004, he received the prestigious Burton Award for Legal Achievement, which recognizes excellence in legal scholarship. Mr. Strassberg was honored for authoring “Is Selective Waiver of Privilege Viable?” which appeared in The New York Law Journal.
Mr. Strassberg was a recipient of the 2001 Executive Office of the United States Attorneys Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an AUSA. He also received the National Award for Prosecutorial Excellence from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association in connection his successful prosecution of a $40 million Medicare fraud and numerous other awards and commendations for his work on various prosecutions.