ATTORNEYS

Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions

• Prosecuted and supervised multi-agency teams in high-profile, complex white-collar matters involving bribery, campaign finance violations, investment fraud, corporate and securities fraud, embezzlement, health care fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, extortion, obstruction of justice, civil rights violations, hate crimes, threats, police misconduct, and tax offenses.
• Prosecuted more than 100 criminal defendants; served as lead or co-lead counsel in nine trials; supervised more than a dozen trials; and wrote and argued numerous appeals before the Ninth Circuit.
• Led and supervised a total of more than thirty criminal prosecutors, advising them on all aspects of investigation and prosecution, including investigative plans, charging decisions, case and trial strategy discovery, filter-team protocols, attorney-client privilege matters, DOJ policies, and parallel proceedings.
• Partnered with and advised law enforcement leaders from over more than 25 federal agencies.

Corruption & Public Integrity Prosecutions

• Served as co-lead counsel in the multi-year investigation of Los Angeles City Hall corruption, which exposed a sweeping pay-to-play scheme involving elected officials, developers, and corporate interests and resulted in the Central District’s first federal racketeering convictions of an elected official, Councilmember José Huizar.
• Secured across-the-board convictions for racketeering, bribery, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice, and money laundering as co-lead counsel in a total of three trials in the City Hall Corruption cases, including against former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan and the real estate developers who paid bribes to Huizar and Chan.
• Argued before the Ninth Circuit and successfully defended the sentences, fines, and trial convictions of a real estate developer and his company that paid a $500,000 cash bribe to Huizar.

Officer Misconduct & Sexual Abuse

• Investigated and convicted law enforcement officer who stole drugs from lockup and resold them on the street.
• Convicted at trial law enforcement officer who illegally sold firearms to prohibited persons.
• Investigated and convicted at trial a cheerleading coach who sexually assaulted his colleague on a cruise ship.
• Handled intake of, assessed evidence for prosecution for, and interfaced with law enforcement agencies on hate crimes and civil rights maters for the Central District of California.

Financial Crimes & Securities Fraud

• Served as lead trial counsel in a five-week, multi-defendant securities fraud and money laundering trial involving manipulation of penny stock prices to inflate hedge fund profits, causing over $215 million in investor losses.
• Served as trial counsel in a health care fraud and money laundering case against physician and clinic manager who laundered millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained Medicare funds.
• Prosecuted defendants in a sprawling Tricare health care fraud investigation that defrauded the military’s medical system of more than $200 million in reimbursements for medically unnecessary compounded medications.
• Prosecuted multiple defendants in several investigations in which hundreds of distressed homeowners were victimized through phony mortgage modification schemes.

Media, Entertainment, and Intellectual Property Litigation

• Successfully represented Electronic Arts in a high-profile dispute related to the hiring of the development team responsible for the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare video game franchise, which resulted in a confidential settlement for EA.
• Obtained summary judgment for video game company on a claim of alleged trade secret misappropriation, which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.
• Successfully represented an online content provider in defending against claims of inducement of copyright infringement.
• Successfully represented a television production company in defending against copyright claims related to a reality television series.

Pro Bono & Mentorship

• Represented a prisoner in a federal civil rights action that successfully challenged racial discrimination in housing and job assignments in Arizona’s state-operated prisons and resulted in a statewide injunction dismantling those unlawful practices.
• Served as counsel for the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence, which investigated the Sheriff’s Department use of force in Los Angeles County Jails and found a persistent pattern of unreasonable force.
• Trained and mentored new prosecutors on topics including trial advocacy, plea negotiations, and sentencing strategy.
• Developed and led office-wide trainings for criminal prosecutors on topics including plea agreement enforcement, filter-team protocols, and motion practice.