Richard S. Hartunian

Richard S. Hartunian offers clients the benefit of his decades of experience as lead government counsel in high-profile, high-stakes criminal and civil disputes.

Rick defends clients against allegations of white collar crime, healthcare fraud, BSA/AML violations, and environmental and defense procurement fraud, and advises on cross-border security and trade issues. He also helps clients manage crises that result from litigation and government enforcement efforts, particularly when investigations involve multiple agencies and jurisdictions.

During his tenure as United States attorney for the Northern District of New York, Rick served in national leadership positions as a member, vice chair and chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys, providing advice and guidance to the department’s leaders on the full range of criminal and civil issues affecting DOJ and United States Attorneys’ Offices nationally. While serving on this prestigious committee, he provided input for notable DOJ initiatives, such as the department’s Individual Accountability Policy in cases involving cooperation by corporations (the Yates Memo, September 2015), various DOJ discovery initiatives (including responses to calls for expansion of the DOJ’s discovery obligations from the judiciary and state bar associations) and the Associate Attorney General’s Civil Enforcement Cooperation Memo (September 2016). Within the Northern District of New York, Rick headed several key initiatives and prosecutions and strengthened his office’s Civil Division by emphasizing affirmative civil enforcement to combat healthcare, procurement and environmental fraud. Rick also worked closely with the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security on cybercrime, including trade secret and customer data theft.

Prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney, Rick served as an assistant United States attorney (AUSA), where he investigated and prosecuted immigration, narcotics and violent crime offenses, as well as white collar cases, including tax and bankruptcy fraud matters. He also served as Narcotics chief and coordinator of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. As an AUSA, he gained vast experience working with all federal investigative agencies and their task forces, in addition to many state and local law enforcement agencies, and was recognized with several awards and case-related commendations.

Rick has substantial knowledge of and good working relationships with U.S. and Canadian border security agencies, enabling him to assist U.S. and Canadian businesses that have pressing border-related concerns. Rick also has experience with Native American tribal affairs and gaming matters.

Frequently interviewed by the legal press, Rick is also regularly invited to address both public and private organizations and bar associations.