Ronald A. Sarachan

Litigation, Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense, Climate Change and Sustainability, Environmental, Health Care

Ronald A. Sarachan is a partner in the Litigation Department and Chair of the Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense Group. He is also a member of the Environmental and Health Care Groups and the Climate Change and Sustainability Initiative.

Mr. Sarachan concentrates his practice on white collar litigation, regulatory enforcement, and complex civil litigation. In criminal litigation, Mr. Sarachan has successfully defended corporate clients ranging from Fortune 500 multinational corporations to closely held companies, as well as individual owners, directors, managers, and other employees. At the investigative stage, Mr. Sarachan has successfully convinced the government not to bring charges against clients in matters involving allegations of defense procurement fraud, financial fraud, environmental crimes, health care fraud, technology export violations, public corruption, and other offenses. In regulatory enforcement matters, Mr. Sarachan has reached "win-win" resolutions that satisfy the regulatory agencies while allowing clients to achieve their business objectives.

Mr. Sarachan has conducted internal investigations for securities and financial institutions, and for clients in energy, petroleum, chemical, manufacturing, and a variety of other fields. Mr. Sarachan advises corporate clients on compliance and ethics programs, internal investigations, risk assessment and management, disclosure and governance issues, and response to grand jury subpoenas and other government investigative and enforcement actions.

Before joining Ballard Spahr in 1997, Mr. Sarachan served as a federal prosecutor for more than 12 years. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he served as Senior Litigation Counsel and Chief of the Major Crimes Section. He also was appointed Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

As the Justice Department's Chief of Environmental Crimes, Mr. Sarachan supervised a staff of 30 federal prosecutors and the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes throughout the United States. He also advised the Attorney General of the United States and Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environmental Division on policy and legislation related to environmental law enforcement. He worked closely with U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, U.S. EPA-CID, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies on training and program development. He implemented Justice Department-led initiatives against intentional pollution from vessels in waters of the United States and the illegal importation of and black market in chlorofluorocarbons.

As Chief of Major Crimes, Mr. Sarachan supervised all federal prosecutions in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in over 25 criminal areas, including environmental crimes, money-laundering, arson, counterfeiting, immigration, civil rights, export controls, identity theft, tampering with consumer products, bank robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and other violent crimes. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Senior Litigation Counsel, Mr. Sarachan prosecuted and tried a wide range of criminal cases, including interstate theft rings, official corruption, financial fraud, government procurement fraud, and environmental crimes.

Representative Matters

• Successfully represented an energy client in connection with a power facility's violations of its surface water discharge permit, resulting in a major fishkill; after an extensive investigation by the state attorney general's office, criminal prosecution of the company or of any individuals was declined; also successfully represented the client in a related regulatory investigation, resulting in no adverse licensing action being taken by the government
• In a federal environmental crimes case, represented a corporate employee who had instructed subordinates to dispose of toxic chemicals down the drain, resulting in the closure of a local water body to recreational use
• In another federal case, represented a utility company being investigated for routinely discharging contaminated wastewater from manholes; in both this and the above-mentioned cases, criminal prosecution was declined against the clients or anyone else involved in the cases
• Successfully defended a client in the shipbuilding industry against a multimillion-dollar federal False Claims Act lawsuit; the action was resolved during the pretrial stage with a stipulation by the plaintiff that the case was being dismissed because the client committed no fraud
• Represented the former CEO of a defense contractor charged with multimillion-dollar defense procurement fraud; on the eve of trial, the government accepted a plea deal resulting in the client's pleading only to a misdemeanor of failing to keep a tax record for R&D performed on behalf of the company, for which he received a sentence of probation
• Represented a number of corporate managers in connection with federal grand jury investigations of alleged health care fraud, including off-label marketing; none of Mr. Sarachan's clients has been charged
• Conducted corporate risk assessments for Fortune 500 companies; a recent risk assessment resulted in a series of specific recommendations to senior management on how to modify its organization and operations to reduce vulnerability to third-party toxic tort actions; all of Mr. Sarachan's recommendations were accepted and implemented

Pro Bono Experience

Mr. Sarachan served as lead counsel on a successful death-penalty case.

Judicial Clerkships

Hon. Edward Weinfeld, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Professional Activities

American Bar Association
Co-chair, White Collar Crime Section, Environmental Crimes Subcommittee

Federal Bar Association, Criminal Law Committee

Pennsylvania Bar Association

Delaware Valley American Environmental Inn of Court

Practising Law Institute, past faculty member, corporate compliance

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, lecturer on corporate responsibility and ethics

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, environmental law, 2005-2010

The Best Lawyers in America, white collar criminal defense, environmental law, 2008-2010

Publications

Co-author, "Expansion of False Claims Act Liability Signed into Law by President," Ballard Spahr Alert, May 22, 2009

Co-author, "Litigation, Subprime Lending, and the Financial Crisis," The Philadelphia Lawyer, Winter 2009

Co-author, "Prosecution of Individuals Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Continues to Rise," Ballard Spahr Alert, September 25, 2008

Co-author, "DOJ is Aggressively Enforcing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," Ballard Spahr Alert, June 11, 2008

Co-author, "American Electric Power Environmental Settlement Could Cost the Company $4.6 Billion," Ballard Spahr Alert, October 10, 2007

Co-author, "National Procurement Fraud Task Force Legislation Committee Proposes Legislative and Regulatory Reforms," Ballard Spahr Alert, August 1, 2007

Co-author, "Case Dismissed Against KPMG Defendants," Ballard Spahr Alert, July 17, 2007

Co-author, "The Supreme Court Resolves Sentencing Split," Ballard Spahr Alert, July 2, 2007

"Criminal Negligence Prosecutions Under the Federal Clean Water Act: A Statistical Analysis and an Evaluation of the Impact of Hanousek and Hong," 32 Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis, 11153, October 2002

Speaking Engagements

Frequent lecturer on criminal law and procedure, environmental law, internal investigations, and government investigations, including at the American Bar Association White Collar Crime National Institutes, the ALI-ABA courses of study on criminal enforcement of environmental laws, the FBI National Academy, St. Joseph's University, and the Department of Justice Office of Legal Education

Presenter at conferences and forums sponsored by the Chemical Manufacturers Association, Institute of Business Law, National Association of Attorneys General, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and American Bar Association Section on National Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law

Testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crimes and Drugs and the U.S. Sentencing Commission on various issues related to the criminal enforcement of environmental laws

University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1981, magna cum laude)
Articles Editor, Michigan Law Review; Member, Order of the Coif

Brown University (B.S. 1978, magna cum laude)
Member, Sigma Xi

New York 1983

Pennsylvania 1990