Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Financial Services Disputes and Investigations

Partner - Litigation and Investigations

Richard E. Finneran is a partner in the firm’s St. Louis office. His practice concentrates on white collar criminal matters, corporate internal investigations, corporate compliance, and civil trial and appellate litigation.

From 2010 to 2017, Mr. Finneran served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, where he was responsible for prosecuting some of the region’s most significant white collar matters, including the two largest financial fraud trials ever conducted by that office. His caseload as a federal prosecutor featured investment frauds, embezzlements, Ponzi schemes, securities frauds, tax evasion, Bank Secrecy Act violations, cybercrimes, public corruption, and money laundering matters. Mr. Finneran also supervised federal agents and assisted prosecutors in numerous other federal criminal cases and investigations, including bank robberies, child pornography offenses, drug trafficking, and violent crimes. Mr. Finneran has tried several cases in federal court and argued numerous appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Mr. Finneran’s work as a federal prosecutor has earned him accolades from across the legal profession. His cases have been featured nationally in Wired Magazine, NPR’s Planet Money, and NBC’s American Greed. In 2014, Mr. Finneran received Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s Legal Champion Award for his work in prosecuting the largest criminal fraud in the history of the Eastern District of Missouri. In 2016, he was honored with the Missouri Bar Foundation’s David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award, which recognizes exceptional appellate practice by a member of the Missouri Bar.

During his time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Finneran supervised the office’s Suspicious Activity Report Review Team and was a frequent presenter on the subject of Bank Secrecy Act compliance. Mr. Finneran also served as a member of the U.S. Department of Justice E-Discovery Working Group and an instructor at the National Advocacy Center on trial presentation and litigation technology. A former member of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Advisory Committee of the Department of Justice, Mr. Finneran is recognized nationally for his knowledge in federal forfeiture law, with his academic writing on the subject having been prominently featured in the Cardozo Law Review.

Mr. Finneran also serves as an adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law, where he has instructed students in constitutional law, criminal procedure, and appellate advocacy and has been twice recognized as the Adjunct Professor of the Year. He also serves as the head coach of the school’s National Moot Court Team, which has won numerous national championships under his leadership.

Mr. Finneran is a contributing author to the��Financial Regulation: Emerging Themes in 2019 publication - an extensive collection of articles around the themes of investigations, financial crime, digital, markets, supervision and governance.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Finneran served as a commercial litigation associate at another major law firm in St. Louis.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT & HONORS

Coach, 2018 National Championship Team, William B. Spong Invitational Moot Court Tournament

Adjunct Professor of the Year, Washington University School of Law, 2017

Coach, 2017 National Championship Team, Judge John Brown R. Admiralty Moot Court Competition

David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award, The Missouri Bar Foundation, 2016

Coach, 2016 National Championship Team, Evan A. Evans Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition

Legal Champion Award, Missouri Lawyers Weekly, 2014

Award for Distinguished Service, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, 2014

Outstanding Investigation of the Year, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, 2014

Outstanding Trial of the Year, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, 2013 Adjunct Professor of the Year, Washington University School of Law, 2013 Coach, 2012 National Championship Team, American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition Chief Notes Editor, Washington University Law Review