Richard D Owens

Practice Areas

Richard Owens, a former federal prosecutor, principally represents corporations and individuals in the financial services industry in criminal and regulatory matters, he conducts internal investigations and advises on compliance matters. As former Chair of the New York Litigation & Trial Department, Richard is adept at staffing effective teams to meet each client’s unique needs.

Richard served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 1994 through 2006. He served as Chief of its Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and supervised many of the nation's highest profile corporate fraud and insider trading prosecutions, including WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, American BankNote, ImClone Systems, Impath, Inc., and Royal Ahold, N.V. He also coordinated the office’s criminal prosecutions with parallel civil matters brought by the SEC, CFTC, the Federal Reserve Banks, and state regulators.

He twice received the Attorney General’s annual Distinguished Service Award: in 1996 for the prosecution of Daiwa Bank, and in 2000 for the prosecution of Patrick R. Bennett relating to the then-largest financial fraud in US history. He has tried 12 felony cases, including two of the three largest criminal accounting fraud cases ever prosecuted in New York.

Richard regularly speaks on enforcement topics at high-profile industry conferences.

He maintains an active pro bono practice, regularly representing clients at trial. He serves on the board of Volunteers of Legal Services NYC.