Author Archives: Lisa

Corey Ellis Appointed as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina

On December 22, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Corey P. Ellis to serve as the Interim United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina. Ellis will be sworn in on January 10, 2022. He recently served as the acting director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. On October 28, 2020, he appeared on the NAFUSA webinar along side then chair of the AGAC, and now NAFUSA member, Erin Nealy Cox. He is presently serving as chief of staff for FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

Previously, Ellis served in several leadership roles in the Department of Justice, including as chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. Ellis was also the first assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina. While an assistant U.S. attorney, he handled a wide range of criminal investigations, including public corruption, white collar fraud, securities fraud, and cybercrime. Ellis began his career as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office in Hendersonville, North Carolina and has tried more than 100 jury trials.

Ellis received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law.

NAFUSA lifetime member Thomas O’Brien secured a major victory in the U.S. District Court

NAFUSA lifetime member Thomas O’Brien, partner at Browne George Ross O’Brien Annaguey & Ellis LLP secured a major victory last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, successfully clearing Dr. Mirali Zarrabi on all 33 felony counts regarding a $355 million insurance fraud scheme on the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business. O’Brien was lead counsel and his trial team included former Assistant U.S. Attorneys from his days as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (2007-2009).

Dr. Zarrabi, a pulmonologist, was the sole defendant acquitted of all charges in what appears to be the lengthiest federal trial conducted nationwide during the pandemic, spanning close to three months.

“The complexity of the matter and length of the trial were significant challenges, but our client, Dr. Zarrabi, is extremely pleased with the outcome and so are we,” said O’Brien. “It’s not often a defendant with so many charges is acquitted on all of them, but the jury did its job and reviewed the evidence properly.”

Federal prosecutors argued at trial that the 1-800-GET-THIN network had fraudulently submitted roughly $355 million in insurance claims for coverage of Lap-Band surgeries, a type of weight loss surgery. According to prosecutors, GET THIN scheduled patients for medically unnecessary sleep studies and then falsified the results to show that the patients had obstructive sleep apnea, often a trigger for insurance coverage of Lap-Band surgery. Dr. Zarrabi, an independent contractor of GET THIN, was accused of failing to review the falsified sleep study results, but the BGR team successfully demonstrated to the jury that the government’s chief cooperating witness, Charles Klasky, falsified the results after Dr. Zarrabi had performed his sleep study reviews.

2022 NAFUSA conference will be held in San Diego April 6-8, 2022

2016 NAFUSA Conference at the Del Coronado

The 2022 NAFUSA conference is confirmed at the Hotel del Coronado. Due to the pandemic, it will be NAFUSA’s first conference since 2019 in San Francisco. Golf for those interested will be held at Torrey Pines north course the morning of Wednesday April 6, 2022. The conference will kick off Wednesday evening with an event from 6:30-9:30 pm at the hotel on the beach.  CLE programs will be on Thursday and Friday from 8:00 am to approximately noon.  An off site event will be planned for either Thursday or Friday afternoon for all to attend.  As usual, Thursday evening will be the class dinners.  We are looking for a “captain” from each administration to coordinate the class dinners.  Please reach out to Lisa Rafferty if you would like to take on that role. The conference will conclude Friday evening with a dinner and key note speaker.  The conference committee is working hard to put together an amazing program.  Details will be released once speakers are confirmed.  Keep an eye on our monthly newsletters for updates on the conference.  Registration will open in January 2022.

Dick Thornburgh Flag Presentation

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Monday, June 14, 2021 (Flag Day)

Please join us in celebrating the legacy of former U.S. Attorney and Attorney General, Dick Thornburgh, who passed away December 31 at age 88, and the inspiration of his career in public service.

Dick was honored and remembered in a virtual tribute by his former Department of Justice colleagues:

  • Mike McKay, K&L Gates, Seattle (U.S. Attorney, Seattle, WDWA, 1989-93)
  • Rich Rossman, Executive Director, NAFUSA (U.S. Attorney, Detroit, EDMI, 1980-81)
  • Karen Hewitt, President, NAFUSA (U.S. Attorney, San Diego, SDCA, 2007-10)
  • Paul Coggins, Immediate Past President, NAFUSA (U.S. Attorney, Dallas, NDTX, 1993-2001)
  • Acceptance remarks by John Thornburgh, on behalf of the Thornburgh family

Please click https://www.klgates.com/Remembering-Dick-Thornburgh-Former-US-Attorney-General-US-Attorney-Colleague-and-Friend-co-hosted-with-The-National-Association-of-Former-US-Attorneys-6-14-2021 to view a video of the program.

Dick Thornburgh was born on July 16, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Yale University in 1954 and earned his LL.B degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957. Mr. Thornburgh also holds honorary degrees from 31 colleges and universities.

Following law school, Mr. Thornburgh worked in private industry until 1959 when he joined the Pittsburgh law firm then known as Kirkpatrick, Pomeroy, Lockhart & Johnson. In 1967, he was elected as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. From 1969 to 1975, Mr. Thornburgh was the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division in 1975, serving two years in Washington, D.C. in that role before returning to private practice as a partner at Kirkpatrick, Lockhart, Johnson & Hutchison. Pennsylvania elected Mr. Thornburgh governor in 1979 and he served two terms. Mr. Thornburgh also taught courses at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and directed that school’s Institute of Politics from 1987 to 1988.

Appointed by President Reagan, Dick Thornburgh was sworn in as Attorney General on August 12, 1988. President George H.W. Bush reinstated him as Attorney General in 1989 and he served until 1991. In 1992, the American Legion honored Mr. Thornburgh with its highest award, the “Distinguished Services Medal.” He published his autobiography in 2003 entitled, Where the Evidence Leads: The Autobiography of Dick Thornburgh.

Please click https://www.klgates.com/KL-Gates-Mourns-Passing-of-Longtime-Partner-Former-Pennsylvania-Governor-and-US-Attorney-General-Dick-Thornburgh-12-31-2020re for the K&L Gates statement in honor of Dick.

 

Former US Attorney Jim Burns dies at 75 following career that took him from basketball court to federal courthouse

 

Jim Burns, whose success took him from the basketball court to the federal courthouse as U.S. attorney (ND Illinois 1993-1997) died Friday, December 11, 2020. He was 75.

The death was announced by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who appointed Burns in April 2000 to serve as inspector general, a job he had held ever since. Burns took the post as federal investigators were continuing their Operation Safe Road corruption probe of the office under White’s predecessor, George Ryan, who was elected governor in 1998. Ryan was released from prison in 2013 after being sentenced to 6½ years on corruption charges.

Born in Quincy and raised in McLeansboro in southeastern Illinois, he led his high school to fourth place in the state basketball tournament before getting a scholarship to Northwestern University.

He won third-team All-America, Academic All-America and All-Big Ten honors in his senior season with the Wildcats in 1966-67 and graduated with a degree in history. He spent a year professionally with the Chicago Bulls and then the Dallas Chaparrals in the American Basketball Association in 1967 before a torn Achilles tendon late in the season ended his playing days.

He returned to Northwestern in 1968 and received a law degree in 1971. Burns then served as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1971 to 1978 and moved to the position of chief of the criminal division.

He then went into private practice, serving as a regulatory partner with Isham, Lincoln and Beale from 1978 to 1987 and then became a defense and regulatory partner with Keck, Mahin and Cate from 1987-1993.

Burns gave up the federal prosecutor’s post for an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1998. Burns returned to private practice at Sidley & Austin before being named to the inspector general’s job by White, whose office looked to try to restore voter integrity as a result of the federal investigations left under Ryan.

He is survived by his wife, Martha, and 3 children.  As is our custom, at the request of NAFUSA, an American flag was flown over Main Justice and will be presented to his family as a token of the regard with which Jim was held by his colleagues.

William Ruckelshaus dies at 87

William D. Ruckelshaus, who was the keynote speaker at the NAFUSA conference in Seattle in 2009, died on November 27, 2019, at his home in Medina, Washington. He was 87.

In 1973, Ruckelshaus was named acting FBI director and then deputy attorney general during the time of the Watergate investigation. Attorney General Elliott Richardson appointed Archibald Cox, a Harvard law professor, to investigate the break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex. When Cox requested access to the Oval Office tape recordings of the time immediately after the break-in, President Nixon refused access and ordered the Attorney General to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. Ruckelshaus was then ordered by the White House to fire Cox, and he, too, refused and resigned.

At NAFUSA’s Seattle conference, Ruckelshaus spoke of the “Saturday Night Massacre” publicly for the first time. Click here to read Ruckelshaus keynote speech Remembering Watergate. It is one of the most memorable keynote speeches in NAFUSA history.

Ruckelshaus later served as the administrator of EPA, under appointment by President Ronald Reagan. He attended Princeton University and received his law degree from Harvard.

San Francisco conference was a success!

NAFUSA’s 40th annual conference kicked off Wednesday September 25, 2019 with a reception on the top floor of the newly remodeled Westin St. Francis hotel.  President Terry Flynn honored the founding members as well as the past presidents and executive directors.

 

The CLE program began with a very intriguing panel on Artificial Intelligence lead by our own NAFUSA board member Anne Tompkins as moderator.  Board member Donna Bucella lead a dialogue with EOUSA and the AGAC with Jessie Liu and Norman Wong. Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt talked about Unconscious Bias in Law Enforcement and Stanford Professor Deborah Rhode gave the ethics presentation. Dean Chemerinsky did an excellent update on the Supreme Court.
The members, guest/spouses and sponsors were treated to a stunning luncheon boat cruise and Friday afternoon were invited to tour the historic Browning Courthouse courtesy of Hon. Michael Hawkins, NAFUSA member and past president.
The Bradford award was given to Fred M. Wyshak, Jr., AUSA District of Massachusetts.  Fred as shown below with his wife Joan along with Michael Bradford’s wife and daughter, Liz and Emma Bradford.

 

NAFUSA board member John Ritcher introduced Hon. Christopher Wray, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Lifetime NAFUSA member who was our keynote speaker.

 

 

At the closing banquet on Friday, the election of new officers and directors was held. The results were as follows:

  • President: Paul Coggins
  • President Elect: Karen Hewitt
  • Vice President: Chuck Stevens
  • Secretary:  Ken Wainstein
  • Treasurer: Donna Bucella
  • Immediate Past President:  Terry Flynn
The new board members for the class of 2022:
  • Greg Brower
  • Deborah Gilg
  • William Kolibash
  • Edward Stanton
  • Johnny Sutton
  • Willy Ferrer was elected to Donna Bucella’s vacancy in the class of 2020.

Paul Coggins elected President of NAFUSA

Paul Coggins was elected President of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) during its Annual Meeting in San Francisco last month. Coggins, who served as the organization’s President-Elect for the past year and previously as Vice President, was U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from 1993 to 2001. He is currently the Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s White Collar Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations Practice Group.

Coggins twice served on the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Council and, in 1998, became its Vice Chair. As U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted the first federal “three strikes” case in Texas and some of the earliest cybercrime cases in the United States. He also prosecuted one of the most complex cases ever brought under the Economic Espionage Act, stamped out one of the nation’s largest immigrant smuggling rings and built one of the nation’s first health care fraud task forces.

Coggins focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense and has represented numerous Fortune 500 clients in high-stakes litigation before federal courts and the SEC. He also has conducted internal investigations involving alleged tax, fraud and securities violations. In addition, he develops compliance and ethics programs for corporations and other business entities.

Coggins is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. In addition to his legal work, he has published two books: a novel (The Lady Is the Tiger) and a nonfiction work on sports (Out of Bounds), which he co-authored with former Congressman Tom McMillen. His second novel (Sting Like a Butterfly) will be released in March 2020.

Veteran Prosecutor, Compliance Monitor Michael Bromwich Joins Steptoe’s White-Collar Practice

Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that prominent white-collar lawyer, veteran prosecutor and corporate compliance monitor Michael R. Bromwich is joining the firm’s esteemed White-Collar Criminal Defense practice as a senior counsel. He will reside in the firm’s Washington office and also have a presence in the firm’s New York office.

Bromwich brings nearly 40 years of experience as a federal prosecutor, a special prosecutor, an inspector general, the country’s top offshore drilling regulator, the compliance monitor of major public companies and public agencies, and a criminal defense lawyer. Over the years, he has been called on countless times – by public corporations, private companies, federal, state, and local governments, cabinet secretaries, and the president of the United States – to deal with issues and problems of private and public significance.

In private practice, Bromwich has conducted internal investigations for private companies and other organizations, providing monitoring and oversight services, and represented institutions and individuals in white-collar criminal and regulatory matters and congressional matters. Most recently, his publicly disclosed representations have included Christine Blasey Ford and Andrew McCabe. He has also served as the independent monitor for two of the ten largest companies in the United States – Apple and Walmart.

Bromwich’s celebrated career also includes serving as the Inspector General at the Department of Justice (DOJ), where he was responsible for investigating public corruption and systemic issues relating to waste, fraud, and abuse within the DOJ and its law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). His work included investigations of the FBI Laboratory, the FBI’s role in the Aldrich Ames affair, and the DEA’s involvement in the CIA-crack cocaine controversy. During his five years as Inspector General, Bromwich took a new and virtually anonymous agency within the DOJ and shaped it into an internal investigations powerhouse.

Bromwich previously served as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for Iran-Contra.

Bromwich’s most recent public sector service took place in 2010-2011 when he was selected by President Obama to reform the regulation and oversight of offshore drilling and to serve as the country’s top offshore drilling regulator in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. During his tenure at the Department of the Interior, Bromwich implemented a series of far-reaching regulatory and organizational reforms that revamped the nation’s regulation of offshore energy exploration, development, and production.