Lee S. Richards III

Lee S. Richards III represents businesses, corporate boards, and individuals in white-collar criminal defense, securities enforcement defense, regulatory proceedings, internal investigations, and complex commercial litigations. He has extensive experience representing investment banks, hedge funds, public companies, investment advisers, corporate officers and directors, and other professionals in investigations and proceedings. These include matters before the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, New York Attorney General’s Office, New York District Attorney’s Office, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other governmental entities and self-regulatory agencies. He also has significant trial experience in both criminal and civil matters. 

Lee has served as the receiver in cases involving Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and Westgate Capital Management, LLC. He was also appointed by the federal district court to serve as independent examiner for Computer Associates International, Inc. Lee leads Ashurst Perkin Coie's independent compliance consultant team for J.P. Morgan. He has also served as SEC special compliance counsel, receiver, and trustee in the liquidation of five securities firms, as well as three major insider trading cases. 

A former assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Lee handled major prosecutions of insider trading and securities fraud, including the first successful criminal prosecution of an insider trading case in U.S. history. In that high-profile securities fraud case, he helped develop the misappropriation theory of insider trading still prevalent today. 

Chambers USA has ranked Lee as a leading individual in white-collar and government investigations for 16 consecutive years and as a leading individual in securities regulation-enforcement from 2011 to 2025. He is also a fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel.