Rich is the leader of our White Collar & Investigations practice and a nationally recognized litigator in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement and other white collar matters. He brings decades of experience in over 250 SEC investigations, including some very high-profile matters the SEC has handled and he regularly handles Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases, securities-related white-collar criminal matters and private securities litigation.

Drawing on his experience as a former branch chief with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Rich represents corporations, corporate executives, brokerage firms, investment advisers, accounting firms, auditors, law firms, hedge funds and individual investors in connection with SEC, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), congressional, state attorney general and grand jury investigations; SEC litigation; and complex securities cases.

Rich has had a significant role in various important matters, including: several CDO and RMBS investigations of investment banks and collateral managers; SEC and criminal investigations of Enron; investigations and litigations concerning possible insider trading involving the securities of Dick’s Sporting Goods, Liberty Media, Capital One, and Prestige Brands; investigations and litigation concerning trading by NYSE specialists; investigations of alleged FCPA violations by various financial institutions; investigations and litigation concerning merger activities of Wachovia Corporation and National City Corporation; investigations concerning transactions by MGIC, Royal Dutch Shell, HSBC, Lernout & Hauspie, Aetna, Denso Corporation, AG Edwards, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse; investigations concerning the financial statements and/or audits of Orange County, Citi, Navistar, Autonomy, Bally’s, CarMax, SteinMart, and Allegheny Health Systems; investigations into marketing and other activities of registered investment advisors (including Smith Barney Asset Management, Family Endowment Partners, UBS Asset Management, F Squared and Harbinger) and ETF sponsors (including Pro Shares and Wisdom Tree Investments); internal investigations at a Fortune 10 retailer, Aon Corporation, E*Trade, Nash Finch Corporation and TD Ameritrade; investigations and litigation related to alleged pricing violations by NASDAQ traders; investigations of auditing firms and audit partners from KPMG, E&Y, D&T, Friedman, and PWC International; and congressional investigations concerning, among others, Goldman Sachs and Riggs National Corporation.

Rich conducts internal investigations for corporations, and advises members of numerous special committees of boards of directors as to their rights and obligations regarding the handling and evaluation of corporate transactions, internal investigations and shareholder litigation. Additionally, Rich has litigated to a successful judgment a number of SEC enforcement cases and defended numerous class actions and shareholder derivative suits in federal courts throughout the country.

A well-known figure in the industry, Rich is a frequent speaker at professional seminars and serves as the co-chair of two PLI annual programs: “Internal Investigations” and “Auditor Liability.” He has served on the adjunct faculty of Georgetown University School of Law, teaching a course in “Professional Responsibility in Corporate and Securities Practice.”