Daniel Ruzumna is a Partner in Patterson Belknap’s Litigation department and Co-Chair of its White Collar Defense and Investigations Group. He has extensive trial and appellate experience, having served as lead counsel in more than twenty trials and arbitration hearings and having argued twenty appeals cases before federal and state appellate courts.
Mr. Ruzumna’s practice focuses on the areas of white-collar criminal defense and related regulatory proceedings, internal investigations, asset forfeiture proceedings, and complex financial litigation. He also regularly represents clients in connection with art-related disputes and arbitrations. Mr. Ruzumna has represented corporations and individuals in high-profile criminal and regulatory investigations involving alleged violations of the securities laws, antitrust laws, tax laws, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr. Ruzumna regularly conducts confidential investigations on behalf of clients, including a professional sports league, higher education institutions, financial firms, and life science companies. He has also represented clients in high stakes appeals and arbitrations, and handles high end art-related matters, including litigation, arbitration, and investigations. Mr. Ruzumna is a frequent commentator on issues of criminal law, U.S. economic sanctions, and asset forfeiture, and is often interviewed for television and newspaper stories on white collar criminal issues. He has appeared on Bloomberg Television and on an affiliate of CNBC to discuss insider trading laws and prosecutions involving alleged violations of securities laws. Mr. Ruzumna also served as counsel to the Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), with a focus on anti-corruption compliance issues, for over a decade.
Before joining Patterson Belknap in 2005, Mr. Ruzumna spent six years working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he last served as Acting Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, a unit of more than 20 prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting economic crimes and financial frauds. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Ruzumna investigated and prosecuted white collar criminal cases involving bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, health care fraud, securities fraud, criminal tax violations, and money laundering. He prosecuted organized crime and litigated civil and criminal asset forfeiture actions. Mr. Ruzumna received the Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award for Asset Forfeiture, the Department’s highest honor, and acted as an instructor of trial advocacy at the Department’s National Advocacy Center.
Mr. Ruzumna was inducted in 2021 as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the preeminent organization of trial lawyers in North America. He has been recognized by Chambers USA in the area of Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Investigations. The guide notes that Mr. Ruzumna “earns praise for his ability to handle both criminal and civil disputes.” Clients describe him as “an excellent strategist who thinks steps ahead.” He “is a pleasure to work with and is adept at handling complex government investigations.”
Mr. Ruzumna served as a Law Clerk to the late Hon. Jay C. Waldman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ruzumna spent almost four years in private practice in Washington DC before becoming a federal prosecutor. Mr. Ruzumna graduated in 1994 from the University of Michigan School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Michigan Law Review, and received his B.A. from the University of Michigan with high distinction.
Updated Aug 2023
