Partner | Chair of Financial Services Investigations and Enforcement Practice
Haynes Boone
Richard Weber is a partner and Chair of Financial Services Investigations and Enforcement Practice in the Litigation Practice Group in Haynes Boone’s New York office, where he brings an exceptional breadth of experience from the highest levels of federal, state and local government, as well as leadership roles in global financial institutions. Widely recognized as a national authority on financial crimes, Richard advises clients on complex enforcement, compliance and regulatory matters across banking, insurance, digital assets, cyber, tax and anti-money laundering (AML). Most recently, Richard was a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP.
Richard previously served as General Counsel of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), where he oversaw all legal and compliance functions for the agency regulating more than 3,000 financial institutions. In that role, he led major supervisory and enforcement initiatives involving AML, sanctions, cybersecurity, digital assets and financial fraud. He also held key leadership positions at DFS, including Chair of the Monitor Selection Committee, Chair of the Audit Committee and member of critical innovation-focused groups such as the Virtual Currency Licensing, Risk and Regulator of the Future committees.
Prior to his tenure at DFS, Richard held senior positions in financial crime prevention at two global banks. At UBS, he was Managing Director and Head of Financial Crime Prevention for the Americas, responsible for AML, BSA, sanctions compliance, fraud, FCPA and anti-corruption programs. At Deutsche Bank, he served as Managing Director and Americas Head of Anti-Financial Crime, where he oversaw legal and regulatory compliance programs, internal investigations and financial intelligence operations.
Richard is also the former Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he led a global team of 3,700 agents and staff responsible for investigating tax evasion, money laundering, cybercrime, digital assets, terrorism financing and sanctions violations. Under his leadership, the IRS conducted several landmark investigations, including the FIFA corruption case, the Silk Road darknet marketplace and the historic Swiss Bank Program, which resulted in over $1.3 billion in penalties. Richard launched the IRS’s first dedicated cybercrime unit and modernized the agency’s investigative capabilities through cutting-edge data analytics and AI.
Earlier in his career, Richard served as:
- Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section at the U.S. Department of Justice;
- Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division and Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office;
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
In these roles, he directed numerous high-profile and multi-agency domestic and international investigations and prosecutions, including over 100 complex financial, tax and money laundering cases. He has worked extensively with regulatory and law enforcement agencies including the IRS, SEC, FinCEN, CFTC, DOJ, Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC and international counterparts.
Richard also serves on the Bank Receivership Task Force and has been a thought leader in financial enforcement policy, regulatory modernization and digital assets oversight. Throughout his career, he has trained and advised prosecutors, regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world on best practices in financial crime enforcement and compliance.
