ADAMS, CASSIDY & PHILLIPPI

            Richard Serafini has enjoyed a distinguished career both in the private practice of law and in government service.  He is a 1979 graduate of the Temple University School of Law and a 1976 graduate of University of Pennsylvania.  Upon graduation from law school Mr. Serafini held various positions as a law enforcement attorney.  As a local prosecutor, he has served in the New York County District Attorney's Office and the New York State Attorney General's Office.  Federally, Mr. Serafini has served as an enforcement attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission, holding the position of chief of two branches of enforcement, and as a senior litigator for the U.S. Department of Justice in the Fraud and Organized Crime and Racketeering Sections.  Mr. Serafini received numerous commendations and awards for his government service including Department of Justice service and achievement awards and Securities and Exchange Commission merit awards.

            Mr. Serafini left government service in 2000 and entered the private practice of law.  Initially, he worked with the large Florida law firm of Broad and Cassel.  After a period with the firm, Mr. Serafini moved to the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, where he practiced for more than five years.  At the beginning of 2009, Mr. Serafini moved his practice to the boutique law firm of Adams, Cassidy & Phillippi.

            Mr. Serafini's practice focuses on complex criminal and commercial litigation.  He handles financial litigation, white collar crime, securities, internal investigations, money laundering, asset forfeiture, RICO, grand jury investigations, health care fraud and abuse, administrative hearings, and appeals.  Mr. Serafini's clients come from a wide variety of industries, including health care, financial institutions, manufacturers of durable goods, technology companies, and energy companies.

            Mr. Serafini has lectured about securities enforcement and health care fraud and written articles about responding to government investigations.  He has also made numerous media appearances to discuss such topics as the prosecution of Martha Stewart and the Enron fraud.  Some of Mr. Serafini's media appearances have included quotations in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel and, San Francisco Chronicle, and appearances on CNN, CNNfn, MSNBC, CNBC, and numerous all news radio stations throughout the United States.

            Mr. Serafini is admitted to the bars of Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and several federal courts.  Additionally, he has practiced in federal courts throughout the United States.  Mr. Serafini is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and several local bar organizations.  Also, Mr. Serafini maintains a blog dedicated to white collar, securities and health care issues and developments.  Please see www.whitecollarsecuritiesandhealthcare.blogsot.com/. 

Illustrative Matters

Richard Serafini undertook an internal investigation for an energy company that had its facilities seized by state authorities.  The internal investigation proved that neither the company nor any of its officers had engaged in criminal wrongdoing.  The company was able to settle matter by agreeing to an administrative resolution.  Moreover, Mr. Serafini negotiated with criminal law enforcement officials to establish to their satisfaction that the company and its management had not violated any criminal laws.  As a result, no criminal charges were brought against the client.

Mr. Serafini and other attorneys from his prior law firm conducted an internal investigation of government funding of a college.  The investigation disclosed that the college and its administrators were innocent of any criminal or actionable wrongdoing.  Based upon the investigation, the United States Attorney chose not to bring any prosecutions, and the Department of Education continued to provide education funding to students of the college.  As a result of the investigation, the college changed its admissions and financial aid procedures and emerged as a stronger institution.

Mr. Serafini conducted an internal investigation of the contracting procedures used by a public school system in the purchase of land for school construction and the building of facilities on the land.  The investigation resulted in the reform of the contracting procedures used by the school district and the replacement of several officials who had previously exercised supervisory control over the process.

Mr. Serafini represented a public pharmaceutical company before the Securities and Exchange Commission after having conducted an internal investigation of the company's revenue recognition and expense accounting.  By means of the investigation, the client was able to satisfy the SEC that its revenue recognition procedures and expense accounting had not created any material deficiencies in its public reporting.  As a result, the SEC did not bring any enforcement action against the client.

Mr. Serafini represented a computer security company in an investigation by the United States Department of Justice.  The government was concerned that the company by providing computer protection to off shore gaming companies had engaged in a conspiracy to violate federal laws.  Extensive negotiations with the government attorneys resulted in Mr. Serafini convincing the prosecutors that the security company provided DDOS protection and was not a part of any conspiracy.  As a result, the government declined to prosecute anyone.

Mr. Serafini represented a foreign publicly traded company charged in a federal civil RICO action.  His experience and knowledge of RICO statutes resulted in his obtaining dismissal of the action.  He was able to establish to the court's satisfaction the legal insufficiency of the alleged RICO enterprise.

Mr. Serafini represented a group of investment bankers under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  The SEC was investigating the allegation that the investment group had engaged in fraud in raising money to invest in a public technology company.  Negotiations with attorneys from the Commission resulted in the SEC deciding not to bring an enforcement action against Mr. Serafini's clients.

Mr. Serafini defended a medical group in a qui tam action.  A proactive approach and extensive negotiations with the plaintiffs resulted in the dismissal of all counts against the medical group, which Mr. Serafini represented.

Mr. Serafini won a jury trial for a transportation company in its action against former executives of the company who had left and attempted to start a competing company using confidential information obtained from Mr. Serafini's client.  He obtained a verdict and judgment for the company in an action alleging theft of trade secrets, unfair competition, and breach of contract.  In this action Mr. Serafini also recovered attorney's fees for his client.

Illustrative Significant Government Representations

Mr. Serafini represented the United States in U.S. v. John That Luong, et al., a prosecution of the leadership of a West Coast organized crime group.  Mr. Serafini and his team won a five month trial alleging RICO violations, heroin trafficking, technology hijacking, and fire arms violations.  The RICO conviction was the first in federal court in San Francisco in 15 years.

Mr. Serafini represented the United States in U.S. v. NME Psychiatric Hospitals, Inc., a health care prosecution.  The case involved fraudulent contracts, the defrauding of federal medical programs, including Medicare, and kickbacks to medical providers.  The prosecution resulted in the largest imposition of fines and penalties for any government contract or procurement fraud prosecution in then nation's history to that time.