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John Richter is a trial and investigations partner in the Special Matters and Investigations Practice Group, and represents and defends companies, Boards of Directors, Board committees, and individuals facing a variety of white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters, parallel civil litigation, and internal corporate investigations. John previously served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, having been nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate. 

Law360 has named John "White-Collar MVP of the Year".  He also has been recognized as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in America by Benchmark Litigation and as a Life Sciences Star for litigation by LMG Life Sciences.  Most recently, he was elected President of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys.

During his tenure at the Criminal Division, he led investigations, prosecutions, and policy development in many areas of federal criminal law, including healthcare fraud, securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and export violations, bank secrecy and money laundering offenses, public corruption, and organized crime. He served as a member of the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and oversaw the Enron Task Force. He also served as the Commissioner Ex-Officio to the U.S. Sentencing Commission and represented the Department in matters before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

As U.S. Attorney, John served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the district, tried cases, argued appeals, and oversaw the prosecution and defense of a wide-range of criminal and civil matters on behalf of the U.S., including bank fraud, healthcare fraud, money laundering and other economic and regulatory cases. In 2009, he was awarded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General’s Award for Combating Medicare and Medicaid Fraud. He also served as Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Sentencing, and as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on White Collar Crime.

John began his career as a federal prosecutor as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta and Oklahoma City, during which time he investigated and prosecuted a wide-range of federal cases, including health care, bank, and securities fraud. He began his career as a prosecutor as an Assistant District Attorney in Cobb County, Georgia.

In private practice, John has represented and defended clients in trials and investigations involving U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in over fifteen different districts around the country, the Criminal and Civil Divisions at the Justice Department, and state attorney general’s offices for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. These matters often have also involved parallel proceedings by regulatory agencies and parallel class action or qui tam whistleblower litigation.

In addition to tenures as prosecutor and in private practice, John also served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at WellCare Health Plans, Inc., where he led the successful resolution of enterprise-threatening criminal and civil investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as parallel investigations by other federal and state regulatory agencies, private securities class actions, derivative class actions, and qui tam cases.

Full Bio

Credentials

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law

B.A. International Studies, Emory University

District of Columbia

Georgia

Oklahoma

Supreme Court of the United States

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma

Law Clerk, J. Owen Forrester, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

President, National Association of Former United States Attorneys

German

Elected, President


National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) (2023-2024)

Selected,Top 100 Trial Lawyers


Benchmark Litigation, 2017

Selected, Life Sciences Star


LMG Life Sciences, 2017

Selected, White Collar Defense MVP


Law360, 2016

Elected to the Board of Directors, 2017


National Association of Former United States Attorneys

Close

Recognition

Elected, President


National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) (2023-2024)

Selected,Top 100 Trial Lawyers


Benchmark Litigation, 2017

Selected, Life Sciences Star


LMG Life Sciences, 2017

Selected, White Collar Defense MVP


Law360, 2016

Elected to the Board of Directors, 2017


National Association of Former United States Attorneys

Matters

Successful defense and full jury acquittal on all charges of Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a high-stakes criminal trial in the W.D. Tex., stemming from alleged conspiracy and off-label marketing charges.

Successful dismissal of multi-billion dollar whistleblower lawsuit in the N.D. Cal.,against global telecommunications provider on claims of fraud in connections with wireless services provided to departments and agencies of the federal government.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of independent members of the Board of a publicly traded real estate investment trust company into certain financial transactions and activities by management.

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Matters

Successful defense and full jury acquittal on all charges of Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a high-stakes criminal trial in the W.D. Tex., stemming from alleged conspiracy and off-label marketing charges.

Successful dismissal of multi-billion dollar whistleblower lawsuit in the N.D. Cal.,against global telecommunications provider on claims of fraud in connections with wireless services provided to departments and agencies of the federal government.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of independent members of the Board of a publicly traded real estate investment trust company into certain financial transactions and activities by management.

Successful negotiation and resolution of enterprise-threatening investigations by DOJ and attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of Columbia against a global medical device manufacturer based on allegations of kickbacks and violations of federal and state false claims acts.

Representation of and successful declination against senior executives of a global pharmaceutical company in DOJ FCPA investigation of the company.

Representation of and successful declination against former Prime Minister of European country in DOJ FCPA investigation.

Successful declination of DOJ criminal and civil investigation of a publicly traded global medical device company based on allegations of off-label marketing and violations of the federal false claims act.

Successful declination of DOJ civil investigation and dismissal of a whistleblower’s complaint of publicly traded health insurer based on false claims allegations.

Successful negotiation and resolution of civil investigations by DOJ and 47 state attorneys general against a publicly traded pharmacy service provider based on allegations of violations of federal and state false claims acts.

Successful declinations of numerous DOJ civil investigations against a drug monitoring and testing company based on various allegations of violations of the federal false claims act.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of the Board of a publicly traded healthcare intermediary service provider into alleged financial and accounting irregularities.

Investigation of and referral to law enforcement for the successful criminal prosecution of a former employee of a global oil and gas services company based on the unlawful intrusion into the company’s computer system and theft of trade secret and proprietary information.

Matters

Successful defense and full jury acquittal on all charges of Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a high-stakes criminal trial in the W.D. Tex., stemming from alleged conspiracy and off-label marketing charges.

Successful dismissal of multi-billion dollar whistleblower lawsuit in the N.D. Cal.,against global telecommunications provider on claims of fraud in connections with wireless services provided to departments and agencies of the federal government.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of independent members of the Board of a publicly traded real estate investment trust company into certain financial transactions and activities by management.

See more

Close

Matters

Successful defense and full jury acquittal on all charges of Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a high-stakes criminal trial in the W.D. Tex., stemming from alleged conspiracy and off-label marketing charges.

Successful dismissal of multi-billion dollar whistleblower lawsuit in the N.D. Cal.,against global telecommunications provider on claims of fraud in connections with wireless services provided to departments and agencies of the federal government.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of independent members of the Board of a publicly traded real estate investment trust company into certain financial transactions and activities by management.

Successful negotiation and resolution of enterprise-threatening investigations by DOJ and attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of Columbia against a global medical device manufacturer based on allegations of kickbacks and violations of federal and state false claims acts.

Representation of and successful declination against senior executives of a global pharmaceutical company in DOJ FCPA investigation of the company.

Representation of and successful declination against former Prime Minister of European country in DOJ FCPA investigation.

Successful declination of DOJ criminal and civil investigation of a publicly traded global medical device company based on allegations of off-label marketing and violations of the federal false claims act.

Successful declination of DOJ civil investigation and dismissal of a whistleblower’s complaint of publicly traded health insurer based on false claims allegations.

Successful negotiation and resolution of civil investigations by DOJ and 47 state attorneys general against a publicly traded pharmacy service provider based on allegations of violations of federal and state false claims acts.

Successful declinations of numerous DOJ civil investigations against a drug monitoring and testing company based on various allegations of violations of the federal false claims act.

Independent internal investigation on behalf of the Board of a publicly traded healthcare intermediary service provider into alleged financial and accounting irregularities.

Investigation of and referral to law enforcement for the successful criminal prosecution of a former employee of a global oil and gas services company based on the unlawful intrusion into the company’s computer system and theft of trade secret and proprietary information.

Credentials

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law

B.A. International Studies, Emory University

District of Columbia

Georgia

Oklahoma

Supreme Court of the United States

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma

Law Clerk, J. Owen Forrester, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

President, National Association of Former United States Attorneys

German

Elected, President


National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) (2023-2024)

Selected,Top 100 Trial Lawyers


Benchmark Litigation, 2017

Selected, Life Sciences Star


LMG Life Sciences, 2017

Selected, White Collar Defense MVP


Law360, 2016

Elected to the Board of Directors, 2017


National Association of Former United States Attorneys

Close

Recognition

Elected, President


National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) (2023-2024)

Selected,Top 100 Trial Lawyers


Benchmark Litigation, 2017

Selected, Life Sciences Star


LMG Life Sciences, 2017

Selected, White Collar Defense MVP


Law360, 2016

Elected to the Board of Directors, 2017


National Association of Former United States Attorneys