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Kevin C. Riach
Shareholder
Email: kriach@fredlaw.com
Office: 612.492.7435
Assistant: Emmy Nelson, 612.492.7832
Overview
Experience
Articles & Presentations
Honors & Education
Professional Activities
Overview
Kevin defends clients in a wide variety of white collar criminal, civil and regulatory matters.
He represents medical device companies, hospitals, physicians and other individual and corporate clients in civil fraud lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act. He advises clients facing government investigations, helps clients respond to government subpoenas and conducts internal investigations to assess and mitigate risk.
Kevin also defends clients charged criminally with fraud, money laundering, labor trafficking, theft, violent crimes and other serious felonies and misdemeanors.
Kevin has been recognized twice as a “Minnesota Attorney of the Year” by Minnesota Lawyer magazine and has been deemed a “Rising Star” in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense by Minnesota Super Lawyers magazine.
Experience
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
False Claims Act Litigation
- Won dismissal of a False Claims Act lawsuit brought against a major medical device company by a qui tam relator alleging fraudulent shipping practices.
- Won dismissal of a multi-million dollar False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a qui tam relator against a major Minnesota medical center. The individual appealed and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the action.
- Won dismissal of a 180-million dollar False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a qui tam relator against a major Minnesota city. The individual appealed and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the action.
- Won dismissal of a multi-million dollar False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a qui tam relator against a Minneapolis hospital. The individual appealed and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the action.
- Successfully represented a major Midwest medical system in False Claims Act litigation filed by a former employee, who voluntarily dismissed the action after Kevin and his team brought a motion substantially limiting the client’s potential liability.
Criminal Defense
- Won reversal of client’s conviction by the Minnesota Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds, which invalidated part of Minnesota’s disorderly conduct statute.
- Won acquittal of a medical device company CEO in a criminal off-label and conspiracy jury trial. Click here for more information.
- Won jury acquittal in a high-profile criminal matter with First Amendment implications, where Kevin’s client was being prosecuted for filming police and paramedics.
- Won dismissal of federal criminal charges brought against oil and gas companies under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- Won dismissal of felony drug charges brought against a professional athlete.
- Won dismissal of felony assisted-suicide charges brought against the former president of a national right-to-die advocacy group.
- Won a new trial for a woman who had been convicted by a jury of felony assault while represented by other counsel. The State of Minnesota ultimately dismissed the charges against Kevin’s client, resulting in her total exoneration.
- Obtained dismissal of gross misdemeanor riot and other charges brought against protestor exercising his First Amendment rights.
Civil Investigations & Litigation
- Worked with the audit company of technology start-up to investigate potential trade secret violations and other allegations regarding the company’s officers.
- Conducted an internal investigation of a Minnesota company to determine whether one of its principals had embezzled funds from the company. Submitted a detailed report to a law enforcement agency recommending prosecution of the individual.
- Conducted Foreign Corrupt Practices Act due diligence and internal investigations for a large medical device company.
- Represented a well-known Minnesota non-profit corporation in a dispute with a national telecommunications company. After nearly two years of litigation and substantial discovery, the court granted the client’s motion for partial summary judgment. Soon thereafter, with most of the key issues decided, the case settled on terms very favorable to the client.
- Represented several business partners in a complicated and highly-contentious partnership dispute that ended with an award dismissing all claims against Kevin’s clients and granting them significant monetary damages.
- Successfully represented the beneficiary of a multi-million dollar trust in high-profile litigation against the trustees.
- Won summary judgment for a local builder in a major construction defect case involving a 128-unit townhome development.
Articles & Presentations
Jury Acquits Medical Device CEO Charged With FDA Crimes
March 7, 2016
On February 26, 2016, a jury in West Texas acquitted Minnesota-based medical device company Vascular Solutions, Inc., and its CEO, Howard Root, in a federal criminal case involving FDA alleged crimes. The indictment in the case charged Vascular Solutions and Mr. Root with misbranding and conspiracy based on allegations that Vascular Solutions marketed its Vari-Lase® device for off-label use and sought to conceal that activity from the FDA. The jury wholly rejected the government’s case and delivered a stunning defeat to the FDA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) by acquitting Vascular Solutions and Mr. Root on all counts.
Read MorePUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
- Presenter, “False Claims Act Update: Measuring the Aftershocks from the Landmark Supreme Court Decision in United Health Services, Inc. v. Escobar,” Fredrikson & Byron Health Law Webinar Series, June 14, 2017
- Moderator, “Collaboration in Embezzlement Investigations,” Fredrikson & Byron Event, May 2, 2017
- Presenter, “Unpacking the Yates Memo,” Minnesota CLE, November 14, 2016
- Presenter, “Death of an FDA Prosecution: Post-Mortem on the U.S. v. Howard Root Acquittal,” Fredrikson & Byron Event, March 29, 2016
- Presenter, “Medical Marijuana: Implications for Providers, Patients, and Payors,” Minnesota CLE, March 22, 2016
- Presenter, “Representing Health Care Providers – Key Issues and New Developments,” Minnesota CLE, January 8, 2016
- Presenter, “Medical Cannabis in Minnesota,” Minnesota Home Care Association Fall Conference, November 12, 2015
- Presenter, “Health Care Fraud and Abuse,” Minnesota CLE, November 3, 2015
- Panelist, “What Management and Marketers Should Know About the Amarin Off-Label Case and What it Means for Marketing,” Life Science Alley, October 27, 2015
- Presenter, “Recent Developments in False Claims Act Case Law,” Minnesota CLE, September 8, 2015
- Presenter, “The Legal Implications of Recommending Medical Marijuana,” American Academy of Neurology Annual Conference, April 19, 2015
- Presenter, “Medical Cannabis: The State and Federal Disconnect,” University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, April 11, 2015
- “M.D.s and Marijuana,” Minnesota Medicine, November/December 2014
- Presenter, “Recent Trends in False Claims Act Enforcement,” Health Care Management Education Series, November 19, 2014
- Presenter, “Federal Legal Issues and Medical Cannabis In the States,” Minnesota Legislative Task Force On Therapeutic Cannabis Research, November 6, 2014
- Panelist, “I’ll Be Watching You: Citizen Recordings of Government Actors,” Warren E. Burger Inn of Court, September 17, 2014
- Panelist, “Minnesota’s New Medical Marijuana Law: Now What?” Hamline University School of Law Health Law Institute, September 10, 2014
- “Medical Marijuana in Minnesota: Information that Health Care Practitioners Need to Know,” Minnesota Physician, September 2014
- Presenter, “What to Do When the Feds Come Knocking (and What to Do If They Don’t Even Knock!),” Missouri River Energy Services Legal Seminar, August 7, 2014
- “High Hopes: The Future of Medical Marijuana in Minnesota,” Bench & Bar Magazine, May/June 2014
- Panelist, “Mentoring Out of Imprisonment: Building a Healthier Community,” National Association of Social Workers, Minnesota State Conference, June 5, 2014
- “Medical Marijuana in Minnesota: The Practical Impact on Physicians and Health Care Providers,” Webinar, June 4, 2014
- Moderator, “Managing the Initial Stages of a False Claims Act Lawsuit,” Fredrikson & Byron White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group Seminar, May 20, 2014
- “Avoiding Missteps in Internal Investigations,” Webinar, December 12, 2013
- “Top Ten Allegations in Health Care Fraud Lawsuits: Facts that Get Health Care Providers in Trouble and How to Avoid Them,” Webinar, October 30, 2013
- “To Refund or Not to Refund, That Is The Question: Dealing with Overpayments Under the Affordable Care and False Claims Acts,” Webinar, September 25, 2013
- “Re-empowering Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law,” William Mitchell Law Review
Honors & Education
EDUCATION
- William Mitchell College of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 2008
- Evergreen State College, B.A., 1995
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Minnesota, 2008
- U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 2010
HONORS
- Minnesota Lawyer, Minnesota Attorney of the Year, 2011 and 2017
- Minnesota State Bar Association, North Star Lawyer 2012-2017
- Fredrikson & Byron Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year, 2015
- Law360 “Legal Lion,” May 1, 2014
- Policy Fellow, University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 2013
- Minnesota Super Lawyers, Rising Star
- Assistant Editor, William Mitchell Law Review, 2007-2008
Professional Activities
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
- Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
- Minnesota State Bar Association Judiciary Committee Member
- Judicial Clerkship, Honorable Christopher J. Dietzen, Minnesota Supreme Court, 2008-2009
COMMUNITY
- Member, Criminal Justice Act Conflict Panel
- Board Member, Innocence Project of Minnesota
- Board Member, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Policy Fellows Program
- MSBA Judiciary Committee
- Second Chance Coalition Steering Committee
- Legislative Committee, Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
- Minnesota Public Defender Pro Bono Appellate Program
- Volunteer Lawyers Network
- Amicus USA