Richard L. Beizer

Rick Beizer is a trial lawyer with years of experience first gained in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and then at Crowell & Moring before joining Nichols Law.

Rick devotes most of his time to the defense of companies and individuals involved in a broad array of white collar criminal grand jury investigations and trials. Rick also defends companies and individuals accused of civil violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., litigates complex commercial disputes, and conducts internal investigations.

With respect to his criminal practice, Rick has undertaken representation in a number of substantive areas. These have included government contract labor mischarging, product substitution, and violations of the Truth in Negotiations Act; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; financial reporting; environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and RCRA; Medicare and Medicaid; export control; antitrust; mortgage fraud; and bribery, public corruption, “revolving door,” and conflict of interest.

Rick is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has been recognized by clients and peers as a top lawyer in Chambers USA The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Euromoney’s World’s Leading White Collar Crime Lawyers, Corporate Counsel magazine’s Best Lawyers in Criminal Defense, and Washingtonian magazine’s Top Lawyers in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense.

Education

• Harvard University, B.A., cum laude
• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.

Bar and Court Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Commonwealth of Virginia
• U.S. Supreme Court
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• D.C. Circuit
• Second Circuit
• Fourth Circuit

Accolades

• The Best Lawyers in America (2005, 2008, 2011-2017, 2021, 2022, 2023)
• Super Lawyers (2007-2021)
• Chambers and Partners (2007, 2015-2016)
• Euromoney’s World’s Leading White Collar Crime Lawyers
• Corporate Counsel magazine’s Best Lawyers in Criminal Defense (2004)
• Washingtonian magazine’s Top Lawyers in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense (2004)
• The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (2008-2014)

• White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement
• Internal Investigations
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• False Claims Act
• Appellate
• Regulatory and Policy
• Litigation and Trial
• Administrative Law and Regulatory

• Successfully represented a client accused of front-running in the foreign exchange market by getting the indictment dismissed.
• Successfully represented a client who was subject to DOJ and SEC investigations of FCPA violations.
• Negotiated a non-prosecution agreement for a government contractor under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting a violation of the conflict of interest statute and for allegedly obstructing justice during the course of that investigation. Assisted in getting the involved government agency to lift a suspension it had imposed on the company’s chief executive.
• Secured a civil case win on summary judgment for a contractor accused by a qui tam relator of violating the False Claims Act while performing a contract to prepare technical manuals for the Army.
• Assisted teams of lawyers in the trials, which victories were upheld on appeal in the case of United States ex rel. Purcell v. MWI Corp., 807 F.3d 281 (D.C. Cir. 2015), and in the case of United States ex rel. Hooper. v. Lockheed Martin Co.,  No. 14-56192, 2016 WL 611650 (9th Cir. Feb. 12, 2016).
• Led a team that scored a victory for Academi Training Center in a qui tam suit in the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed the relators’ second amended complaint on both public disclosure and first to file grounds. See United States ex rel. Beauchamp v. Academi Training Center, Inc., 933 F. Supp. 2d 825 (E.D. Va. 2013).
• Successfully represented U.S. Training Center, Inc., formerly known as Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc., several other entities and their former owner, Erik Prince, in the case United States ex rel. Davis v. U.S. Training Center, Inc., 1:08-cv-1244, E.D. Va. (Ellis, J.). Following extensive pretrial motions that resulted in a substantial winnowing of the relators’ billion dollar claim and dismissals of Mr. Prince and five of the six corporate defendants, Rick and his team secured a jury verdict in favor of the sole remaining defendant.  On December 6, 2012, the Fourth Circuit denied relators’ multiple challenges to the rulings of the district court and affirmed the judgment in United States ex rel. Davis v. U.S. Training Center, Inc., 498 Fed. App’x. 308 (4th Cir. 2012).
• Served as lead counsel to a general construction company accused of fraud in connection with its work building the American embassy in Iraq.  In the district court, Rick and his team secured a summary judgment in favor of the client. That judgment was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in United States ex rel. Owens v. First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co., 612 F.3d 724 (4th Cir. 2010).
• In a notable False Claims Act case, United States v. United Technologies Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft Division, 51 F. Supp. 2d 167 (D. Conn. 1999), Rick successfully defended at trial a helicopter manufacturer from whom the government had sought $13.5 million in damages and penalties. Although during a DCAA audit for defective pricing, the company had offered to settle that claim for $435,000, at trial, Rick secured a judgment for his client on the FCA count and limited the government’s recovery on the defective pricing count of less than half the amount the company had offered.
• Secured a victory for Sikorsky in United States ex rel. Monda v. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., 2005 WL 1925903, (D. Conn. Aug. 11, 2005). In that qui tam case filed by a DCAA auditor, Rick convinced the court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice on the ground that it failed to plead fraud with particularity in contravention of the requirement of Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b).  Following Rick’s oral argument, the Second Circuit, by summary order, affirmed the dismissal.
• Served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, including two years as chief of that office’s Fraud Division.  He was responsible for overseeing the investigation and prosecution of some of the office’s most sensitive cases, including those against Congressmen and senior Executive Branch officials.
• Featured in a chapter in the Evan Thomas biography of the late Edward Bennett Williams, “The Man to See,” that is devoted to a case, United States v. Antonelli et al., D.D.C. No. 78-00175 Cr., that Rick prosecuted against Mr. Williams’s client.
• Served as a Deputy Independent Counsel in the 1984 investigation of then presidential adviser Edwin Meese. Rick’s involvement in that matter is described in James Stewart’s book, “The Prosecutors.”
• Served as a law clerk to the late Albert V. Bryan, Sr., a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

• “An Emergency Guide to Federal Search Warrants,” Crowell & Moring Business Crimes Update, Issue 15 (August 2004).
• “New Federal Law Targets Corporate Misconduct,” Crowell & Moring Business Crimes Update, Issue 14 (August 2002).
• “The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination,” Crowell & Moring Business Crimes Update, Issue 13 (February 2002).

• “Mortgage Broker Fraud,” ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime (2008). Speaker: Richard L. Beizer.
• “Developments Under the False Claims Act,” ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime (2000). Co-Authors: Brian C. Elmer and Richard L. Beizer.
• “Demonstrative Evidence: Primer for a Klutz,” ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime (1996). Author: Richard L. Beizer.

• DC Circ. Ruling Gives FCA Defendants An Easy Out, US Says February 9, 2016 — Law360
• Washington Litigation Departments of the Year: Crowell & Moring General Civil Litigation
  June 24, 2013 — National Law Journal
• FCPA Powerhouse: Crowell & Moring May 29, 2013 — Law360
• Xe Whistleblowers Tell 4th Circ. Omission Of Proof Sank Case May 1, 2012 — Government Contracts Law360, Quoted
• Who’s Who Legal Recognizes Brian Elmer and Richard Beizer June 2, 2005 — Who’s Who Legal