After nine years in the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s office, David Massey is joining Richards Kibbe & Orbe as a white-collar criminal defense partner. Massey, 44, was in the criminal division and a member of the office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. He handled the insider-trading prosecutions of hedge fund manager Joseph Skowron and Rengan Rajaratnam, brother to convicted hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam. He also led the prosecution of the Swiss bank Wegelin & Co., which resulted in the first indictment and guilty plea of a foreign bank for tax fraud, and led the negotiation of a nonprosecution agreement with a Liechtenstein bank that effectively ended bank secrecy there for U.S. taxpayers, according to the firm’s press release.
At 68-attorney Richards Kibbe, Massey will focus on securities enforcement, criminal defense, investigations and civil litigation. Massey said he was drawn to the reputation of Richards Kibbe and its founder, Lee Richards. “I was looking for a great white-collar and securities defense practice, and it has that,” he said. “All the banks and hedge funds know this firm.” He also said he knew partner Daniel Stein, a colleague from the Southern District, who joined Richards Kibbe in 2011.
