Ronald G. White

Ronald G. White, an experienced trial and appellate lawyer, focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense, SEC enforcement matters, corporate internal investigations, and complex civil litigation. Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, and Best Lawyers in America recognize Mr. White as a leading lawyer in the area of white-collar criminal defense.

Mr. White has tried numerous cases in the New York federal courts, and has briefed and argued 12 appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. White represents major corporations and executives in connection with investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, various United States Attorney’s Offices, the New York Attorney General’s Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, involving allegations of insider trading, market manipulation and other types of securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, health care fraud, bank fraud, tax evasion, and criminal antitrust violations.

He also conducts internal investigations for major corporate clients in the financial and manufacturing sectors involving witnesses and documents located both in the U.S. and abroad.

In addition, Mr. White represents clients in significant civil litigation matters in federal and state courts, including securities class actions, bankruptcy adversary proceedings, and complex commercial litigation.

Mr. White’s notable recent matters include the representation of Standard & Poor’s, one of the world’s leading credit rating agencies, in connection with investigations and multi-billion dollar lawsuits brought by DOJ and the California Attorney General; the representation of the CEO of a media company in connection with the investigation of FIFA, soccer’s governing body, by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and the representation of Swiss private banking executives in connection with the tax evasion investigation by DOJ and SEC of a global financial institution.

Between 2011 and 2013, Mr. White served on the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he represented indigent criminal defendants on a pro bono basis.  

Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. White served for 10 years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. From 1999 through 2004, he served as the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Business & Securities Fraud Section, supervising a group of federal prosecutors handling major white-collar criminal and securities fraud prosecutions. During his tenure as a supervisor of the securities fraud section, the unit brought a number of high-profile corporate fraud prosecutions, including those against Computer Associates and Symbol Technologies.  

As an Assistant United States Attorney, he also personally handled numerous investigations, trials and appeals involving securities fraud and insider trading, bank fraud, money laundering, health care fraud and tax evasion.  Mr. White was twice awarded the U.S. Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Among the significant matters prosecuted by Mr. White were: United States v. Jacobs, et al. (prosecution of CEO, CFO and other top officers of Allou Healthcare, a public company, for bank fraud and securities fraud); United States v. Shuster (prosecution of CEO of public company for conspiring with Jordan Belfort, the so-called “Wolf of Wall Street,” to commit securities fraud and international money laundering); United States v. Gordon, et al. (three-month-long, ten-defendant trial involving charges of mail fraud, bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion); United States v. Tec-Air Services, et al. (prosecution of corporation which operated FAA-approved aircraft repair facility and its five highest-ranking executives on charges of defrauding customers and endangering air safety by intentionally failing to properly repair and service aircraft emergency equipment of major airlines); and United States v. Dhinsa (four-month-long federal death penalty trial, convicting wealthy businessman of the murder of two federal witnesses and a multi-million-dollar consumer fraud).

Mr. White received his A.B., cum laude, from Georgetown University and his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Associate Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.