Stuart G. Nash

Stuart Nash is a Washington, D.C., litigation attorney and co-chair of the firm's national White Collar Defense and Investigations Team. In addition to his extensive experience in white collar criminal defense and governmental investigations, Mr. Nash has handled a wide variety of civil litigation, including employment discrimination claims, shareholder derivative suits, false advertising claims and general commercial litigation.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Nash served for six years as a presidentially appointed Associate Judge for the District of Columbia Superior Court. In that capacity, he presided over nearly 400 trials, including a full range of criminal and civil matters.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Mr. Nash served in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for more than 13 years, rising to the position of Associate Deputy Attorney General, with responsibility for a wide variety of financial crimes, including money laundering, violation of export controls and pharmaceutical frauds. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, Mr. Nash tried dozens of cases to final verdict, in diverse areas such as murder, public corruption and financial fraud.

In 2000-2001, Mr. Nash was detailed from the U.S. Attorney's Office to a position as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he advised the committee on criminal policy and assisted in the drafting of several significant pieces of criminal legislation, including the USA Patriot Act.

Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Nash began a clerkship for the Honorable Samuel J. Ervin III, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The following year, Mr. Nash began a second clerkship for the Honorable T.S. Ellis III, District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Following his clerkships, Mr. Nash worked at a Washington, D.C., law firm for four years, focusing on white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation.

Mr. Nash has been awarded two special achievement awards by the DOJ for his work on particular cases, and in 2005, was awarded the Department of Justice medal for his overall contribution to the department.

Mr. Nash's representative matters include:

• investigation on behalf of a Fortune 10 company on allegations of financial fraud within a foreign subsidiary; remedial actions recommended and undertaken; U.S. government investigation averted
• representation of a U.S. senator in connection with investigations by DOJ, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Senate Ethics Committee regarding allegations of insider trading and engaging in improper trades based on Senate-derived COVID-19 information; representation successfully concluded with no adverse findings against the senator
• representation of a National Football League (NFL) franchise and its owner in connection with a league disciplinary proceeding; matter successfully concluded with the payment of a fine; further representation of franchise and owner in connection with subsequent congressional investigative hearings and depositions; successful representation of the franchise in companion litigation in federal court to maintain the confidentiality of materials related to the NFL's investigation
• representation of a target CEO in connection with a federal bribery investigation; representation successfully concluded with no charges against our client
• representation of members of the Saudi royal family in civil action in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging human trafficking, forced labor and breach of contract; after 18 months of litigation, plaintiff dismissed her case with prejudice and admitted that there was insufficient evidence to pursue her allegations; plaintiff confirmed, in her notice of dismissal, that our clients paid nothing in exchange for the dismissal; the legal entity representing plaintiff publicly acknowledged changing its intake criteria in light of the outcome of the case
• investigation on behalf of a Fortune 20 company on allegations of health and safety violations within a foreign subsidiary; remedial actions recommended and undertaken; U.S. government investigation averted
• representation of an international airline in connection with an SEC investigation alleging materially misleading public statements in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis; representation successfully concluded with no adverse findings against the airline
• representation of a financial services executive in connection with federal grand jury investigation into potential market manipulation; representation successfully concluded with no charges against our client
• representation of a founder and CEO of healthcare information technology (IT) company in a federal criminal case in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging tax charges and charges of operating what the government initially characterized as a Ponzi scheme; client eventually pled guilty and received sentence substantially below sentence recommended by the U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines
• representation of a Fortune 10 company in connection with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into deceptive trade practices in the provision of financial services
• representation of a founder and CEO of a defense contracting company on federal criminal charges in the District of Maryland of providing illegal gratuities to personnel at the U.S. Department of the Army; client eventually pled guilty and received sentence substantially below sentence recommended by the U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines
• representation of a foreign national resisting U.S. government extradition efforts on racketeering and money laundering charges pending in U.S. federal court
• representation of an executive at defense contracting firm in connection with investigation into allegedly corrupt payments routed through Monaco to secure African public sector energy contracts
• representation of a CEO in connection with testimony before U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives committees on his company's provision of allegedly substandard services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
• investigation on behalf of a defense contractor of allegations of false reporting of performance data to the U.S. Department of the Army and the U.S. Department of the Air Force
• representation of congressional staffers in connection with House Ethics Committee investigation into violation of campaign finance rules; representation successfully concluded with no adverse findings against any of the represented individuals
• investigation on behalf of a technology company into federal election law violations by management of acquired subsidiary prior to its acquisition by client; disclosure of investigation's findings to the Federal Election Commission
• representation of a technology trade association in product liability case in the District of Columbia
• representation of a private university and its president on allegations of employment discrimination in the District of Columbia; prevailed on all counts at jury trial