Richard M. Strassberg
Areas of Practice
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.
Work for Clients
Mr. Strassberg represents individuals and entities in almost all the major white collar cases that have occurred over the last two years. These cases include: (i) the KPMG tax fraud case, US v. Stein, et al., (alleged by the government to be the largest criminal tax case in history) representing a former KPMG partner; (ii) the Martha Stewart case, representing Peter Bacanovic, Ms. Stewart’s former Merrill Lynch financial advisor; (iii) the Bristol Myers Squibb case, US. V. Schiff, et al., representing the former President of the Worldwide Medicines division of BMS; (iv) the Enron investigation, representing a banker from a large international financial institution involved in structuring off balance sheet transactions with Enron; (v) the market timing and late trading cases involving the SEC, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and the Illinois Securities Department, representing several financial institutions as well as several officers and employees of other financial institutions; (vi) the gift and gratuities investigations involving the SEC, NASD and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, representing a large financial institution; (vii) investigations by the New York District Attorney’s office into sales tax fraud; and (viii) numerous investigations by various criminal and regulatory agencies into allegations of securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, accounting...more » Mr. Strassberg represents individuals and entities in almost all the major white collar cases that have occurred over the last two years. These cases include: (i) the KPMG tax fraud case, US v. Stein, et al., (alleged by the government to be the largest criminal tax case in history) representing a former KPMG partner; (ii) the Martha Stewart case, representing Peter Bacanovic, Ms. Stewart’s former Merrill Lynch financial advisor; (iii) the Bristol Myers Squibb case, US. V. Schiff, et al., representing the former President of the Worldwide Medicines division of BMS; (iv) the Enron investigation, representing a banker from a large international financial institution involved in structuring off balance sheet transactions with Enron; (v) the market timing and late trading cases involving the SEC, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and the Illinois Securities Department, representing several financial institutions as well as several officers and employees of other financial institutions; (vi) the gift and gratuities investigations involving the SEC, NASD and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, representing a large financial institution; (vii) investigations by the New York District Attorney’s office into sales tax fraud; and (viii) numerous investigations by various criminal and regulatory agencies into allegations of securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, accounting fraud, anti-trust violations, price-fixing, insider trading, corporate governance violations, bribery of public officials and obstruction of justice. Mr. Strassberg has counseled clients on several matters involving the New York Attorney General’s Office, and currently represents clients in litigation against the NYAG’s office involving alleged violations of New York consumer protection laws in connection with the distribution of computer advertisements. In addition to his work in the white collar and regulatory arenas, Mr. Strassberg represents clients in complex civil litigation, including representations involving securities class action defense, minority shareholder rights, ERISA class action defense, health care and insurance litigation, and commercial disputes. Recent civil cases include the successful filing of a summary judgment motion in a securities case alleging breach of fiduciary duties, resulting in the dismissal of all claims against his client and the resolution of a minority shareholder dispute for a client, resulting in the client receiving a multi-million dollar settlement that far exceeded the client’s initial request for relief. Mr. Strassberg also completed the successful defense of a two-week commercial arbitration regarding a multi-million dollar joint-venture dispute, resulting in a total victory for his client, including an award of attorney’s fees. less »
Professional Activities
Mr. Strassberg is a member of 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 Law Committee 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 an Executive Member of the UJA’s Criminal Law Group.
Publications/Presentations
Mr. Strassberg has published numerous articles in various legal periodicals on such topics as: parallel criminal and civil proceedings; current developments in white collar criminal prosecutions; 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; the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; obstruction of justice prosecutions in the wake of the Arthur Andersen case; business crime; and health care and bankruptcy fraud. Mr. Strassberg has been a guest speaker at the Federal Bar Council, the Massachusetts Bankers Association, the ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting, the Capital Region Bankruptcy Bar Association Annual Conference, the Federal Bar Association Seminar on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the Department of Health and Human Services Conference on Medicare Fraud.
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.
Honors and Awards
In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, 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 in 2005, 2006 and 2007 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.
Education
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1988 (cum laude)
B.S., Cornell University, 1985 (with distinction)
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