Chris Nasson is a partner in the firm's Boston office. His practice focuses on regulatory enforcement, white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and related business and securities litigation.
Chris represents corporations and individuals in criminal and civil matters brought by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and other federal and state enforcement agencies. An experienced trial and appellate attorney, Chris has had considerable success dissuading governmental agencies from pursuing any enforcement or criminal action against his clients. He also counsels clients on risk mitigation strategies with respect to anti-corruption, sanctions, cybersecurity, and anti-money laundering issues.
In 2017, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly recognized Chris as “Lawyer of the Year” for his pro bono work securing the release of Fred Weichel, who was wrongfully imprisoned for more than 36 years for a crime he did not commit.
Prior to joining the firm, Chris served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Business & Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the White Collar Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
During his six years as a federal prosecutor, Chris led investigations involving securities fraud, health care fraud, cybercrime, corporate and bank fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and espionage, as well as violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Export Administration Regulations, and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. While at the Department of Justice, Chris led a multi-district, multi-agency investigation of a global insider trading ring, the first criminal prosecution in the U.S. involving trading on inside information obtained through hacking. Chris also successfully investigated and prosecuted corporate executives, broker-dealers, stock promoters, medical professionals, and attorneys in a number of high profile cases, including a $300 million securities fraud prosecution. He tried numerous cases to verdict — all resulting in convictions — in addition to successfully arguing appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Sixth Circuits.