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Linda M. Ricci, Co-Chair of the Boston Litigation Department, focuses her practice on white collar criminal defense, including matters related to corporate compliance and internal investigations, government investigations, money laundering violations, criminal tax offenses, forfeiture, wire fraud, securities fraud, theft of public funds, obstruction of justice, insider trading, and health care fraud.

Linda draws from more than 15 years of experience working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, where she served as Chief of the Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit and was a member of the Economic Crimes Unit. During her tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she represented the United States in all aspects of prosecution, including jury trials, detention hearings, evidentiary hearings, change-of-plea hearings, sentencing hearings, and grand jury proceedings, and she helped develop enforcement strategies and policy guidance in the District of Massachusetts and the New England region. Linda served as the lead prosecutor for several complex international cases resulting in the extradition and prosecution of many foreign nationals on money laundering and drug trafficking charges. She also oversaw the office's criminal narcotics and money laundering investigations focused on the disruption and dismantling of multi-jurisdictional and international drug trafficking organizations and money laundering organizations. She has worked with a large number of federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, as well as numerous state and local agencies.

Linda also has experience handling internal investigations in a variety of industries, including the pharmaceutical industry, the medical device industry, the international vitamin industry, and the airline publication industry. She conducts internal investigations, handles grand jury matters, responds to regulatory and law enforcement requests, and provides legal advice to public and private corporations, boards of directors, special committees, and officers and individuals.

Concentrations

  • White collar crime
  • Internal investigations
  • International crime
  • Money laundering
  • Financial crimes
  • Health care fraud
  • Securities fraud
  • COVID-19-related crime

Capabilities

Experience

  • Served as first or second chair in more than a dozen federal and state trials involving tax fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and drug crimes, theft, and employment discrimination, among other areas, and handled expert witnesses.°
  • Conducted internal antitrust investigation on behalf of international vitamin manufacturing company and defended company in federal grand jury investigation and parallel civil actions regarding alleged participation in international vitamin cartel involving price-fixing and allocation of market shares for vitamins sold in the United States and abroad.°
  • Conducted internal investigation of a worldwide publishing firm concerning misrepresentations to advertisers.°
  • Defended major medical device manufacturer in federal criminal investigation concerning allegations of health care fraud and a simultaneous parallel civil action.°
  • Defended individual officers and employees of a multinational pharmaceutical company in connection with a qui tam action and a federal criminal investigation involving allegations of off-label promotion of drug.°
  • Extradited and prosecuted foreign nationals involved in trade-based money laundering scheme, with presentation to sentencing court of expert witness testimony concerning operation of the black market peso exchange.°
  • Supervised investigation of financial institution concerning potential Bank Secrecy Act violations relating to the failure to maintain effective anti-money laundering compliance program and the filing of required Suspicious Activity Reports.°
  • Conducted investigation and prosecution involving alleged backdated exercise of incentive stock options with parallel SEC civil fraud action.°
  • Conducted investigation of luxury retail goods business into alleged scheme to defraud lenders through inflated inventory reporting in order to increase credit limits and obtain additional financing.°
  • Conducted investigation and prosecution of medical assistant for healthcare program theft, uttering forged securities, and income tax evasion based on theft from Boston-based charitable foundation and ophthalmic surgeon.°
  • Supervised multiple investigations of physicians and medical professionals involved in distribution of prescription drugs outside the course of usual medical practice, including analysis of data obtained from prescription monitoring program and collection and review of information obtained from medical practices and pharmacies.°
  • Conducted multiple investigations and prosecutions of international money laundering and drug trafficking organizations stemming from high-level international undercover operations aimed at dismantling the most significant criminal organizations across the globe. Worked closely with foreign law enforcement authorities in Colombia, Spain, Germany, Israel, Poland, and the Dominican Republic.°
  • Conducted investigation and prosecution of individuals as well as Spanish and Cypriot companies that owned and operated a chemical tanker ship for failing to maintain accurate records in an effort to cover up overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste at sea. Investigation initiated by whistleblower during inspection and resulted in detention of crew from the Philippines during duration of investigation.°
  • Served as second chair in pro bono representation of investment advisor in federal criminal jury trial in the Southern District of New York resulting in successful defense of mail and wire fraud charges.°

°The above representations were handled by Ms. Ricci prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

  • U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, 2006-2021
    • Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit, 2010-2021
      • Chief, 2018-2021
      • Deputy Chief, 2015-2018
      • Assistant U.S. Attorney, 2010-2015
    • Assistant U.S. Attorney, Economic Crimes Unit, 2006-2010
  • Special Assistant District Attorney, Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, 2002
  • Assistant General Counsel, Verizon Communications, New England, 2003-2006
  • Intern, State’s Attorney’s Office, New Haven Judicial District, Connecticut, 1993

Recognition & Leadership

  • Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2023-2024
  • Listed, Benchmark Litigation, "Litigation Star," 2022-2024
  • Listed, Boston magazine, "Top Lawyers - Criminal Defense White Collar," 2022-2023
  • Honoree, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, “Top Women of Law,” 2022
  • Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Dispute Resolution - Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2022
  • Recipient, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Team Award for Outstanding Investigation, 2018
  • Recipient, Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Litigative Team, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice, 2014
  • Member, Board of Museum Advisors, Museum of Science, Boston, 2023-2026
  • Women’s White Collar Defense Association, Thought Leadership Committee, 2022-Present
  • Member, National Charity League, Middlesex Chapter, 2016-Present
    • Board of Directors, 2017-2021
    • Parliamentarian/Parliamentarian-Elect, 2019-2021
    • President/President-Elect, 2017-2019
  • Yale Law School
    • Steering Committee Member, Yale Law School Association, New England Region, 2001-Present
    • Reunion Co-Chair, Yale Law School Class of 1994, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019
    • Vice President, Yale Law School Executive Committee, 2002-2006
  • Admissions Ambassador/Interviewer, Dartmouth College, 2006-Present
  • Instructor, African Regional Pharma Working Group Roundtable for Francophone West African Nations, Accra, Ghana, 2020
  • Volunteer, The Middlesex School Parents’ Association, Concord, Massachusetts, 2018-Present
  • Volunteer, The Fenn School Parents’ Association, Concord, Massachusetts, 2017-2021
  • Member, Concord Public Schools, School Advisory Council
    • Concord Middle School, 2016-2018
    • Willard Elementary School, 2012-2014

Credentials

Education
  • J.D., Yale Law School
    • Editor, Yale Law Journal
  • B.A., magna cum laude, Dartmouth College
    • Phi Beta Kappa
Clerkships
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1995-1996
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1994-1995
Admissions
  • Massachusetts
  • New York
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit