San Diego Conference Registration is Open

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Lisa

Registration for the 2022 National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) Annual Conference is open.

Our Annual Conference will be held at The Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego California, April 6-8, 2022.

The conference will open on Wednesday, April 6th, with a welcome reception from 6-9 pm at the hotel sponsored by Guidepost Solutions. Lifetime NAFUSA member Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, will make opening comments. Golf will be available at 8am on Wednesday morning at the Torrey Pines North Golf Course. Bus will leave the hotel at 6:30 am.

Thursday and Friday sessions will include a panel discussion on “Leadership and the Legacy of Women at DOJ” with Loretta Lynch, Jamie Gorelick and Sally Yates, moderated by Karen Hewitt; a presentation of the Bradford Award to the top AUSA of the year; a Supreme Court Update by Kathleen Sullivan; a panel on “Crypto: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly” with Steve Bunnell, Sean Joyce, Jai Massari, and Eun Young Choi, moderated by Ken Wainstein; an update on EOUSA with Monty Wilkinson; and an ethics presentation by Chuck Rosenberg entitled “The Korematsu Story: The Duty of Candor to the Court.” On each day of the meetings, luncheons will be held for all participants. The Thursday lunch will honor retiring NAFUSA Executive Director Rich Rossman.

Thursday evening is reserved for class reunions at various off-site locations, organized by a representative of each class. The closing dinner and general membership meeting will be held on Friday with a presentation from our keynote speaker, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

Here is a link to the program: NAFUSA Program San Diego 2022 PDF.pdf

You may register by clicking on the link below. Our reserved block of rooms is already full but see the registration form for alternatives.

Attendees should be fully vaccinated and, if possible, have a booster shot, or be prepared to show proof of a negative covid test.

Chuck Rosenberg: Ethics Presentation at San Diego Conference

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Lisa

NAFUSA Board Member Chuck Rosenberg will give the ethics presentation at the San Diego NAFUSA Conference in April. It will be entitled “The Korematsu Story: The Duty of Candor to the Court.”

Chuck has held numerous senior positions in the United States Department of Justice – as the United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Texas, as the senior counselor for national security to one Director of the FBI, and as the Chief of Staff to another FBI Director, as counselor to the Attorney General of the United States, as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration – a position from which he resigned in 2017.

Chuck joined the Department of Justice directly out of law school, through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, and quickly found the job he enjoyed most – as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Norfolk and Alexandria. There, he tried dozens of criminal cases before juries and briefed and argued many of those cases to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Chuck prosecuted complex financial fraud crimes, public corruption, violent crimes, and national security cases.

Chuck currently works as a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC, as a senior counsel for a Washington, D.C. law firm, and as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where he teaches National Security Law and Policy. He is a graduate of Tufts University (BA), Harvard University (MPP), and the University of Virginia (JD). Chuck also hosted the acclaimed podcast, The Oath, which finished a four-season run with more than ten million downloads (available at msnbc.com/theoath).

Judge Gilbert Merritt Dies, 86

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Lisa

Gilbert Stroud Merritt, Jr., the longest-serving member of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals died on Monday, January 17. He was 86.

“Judge Merritt was a cherished friend of my entire family,” former Vice President Al Gore told The Tennessean. “A deeply intelligent and deliberative legal thinker, he was an ardent defender of the liberties that form the foundation of our Constitution…I am holding his family in my thoughts and prayers.”

He sat of the bench for 44 years. He earlier served as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1966-1969 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University and a bachelor of law from Vanderbilt University Law School. He is survived by three children and three grandchildren.

On June, 26, 2019, NAFUSA former president Hal Hardin interviewed Judge Merritt as part of the oral history project of the Nashville Bar Association.

As is our custom, NAFUSA has requested that an American flag be flown over Main Justice and it will be presented Judge Merritt’s family.

James Tucker Dies, 82

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Lisa

NAFUSA lifetime member James Burns Tucker, 82, died on December 28, 2021 following a lengthy battle with illness. James was born in Georgia on September 25, 1939.

He earned a B.A. in English from Millsaps College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

His professional accomplishments were many and included 30 years of service in the U.S. Attorney’s office, Southern District of Mississippi (Chief of the Criminal Division and Interim U.S. Attorney) and 20 years of practicing law with Butler, Snow in Ridgeland, MS. He also served 30 years in the Naval Reserve in the Judge Advocate General’s office and retired with the rank of Captain. He also taught Trial Practice at the Mississippi College School of Law for 25 years with his friend and colleague Judge Kent McDaniel.

Among the many professional honors bestowed on Tucker’s are America’s Top 100 Attorney’s Lifetime Achievement Award and his 2016 induction into the Ole Miss Law Alumni Hall of Fame; membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers; and membership in The American Board of Trial Advocates.

Tucker is survived by his wife, Jeanne; their daughter Lisa Rainey Fletcher (Fred); their son Charles Edward Rainey, Sr. (Meredith); 10 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, January 2, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church of Jackson, Mississippi

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

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Lisa

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

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Lisa

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.

FBI Director Chris Wray to Open the San Diego NAFUSA Conference

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Lisa

NAFUSA life time member Chris Wray was the keynote speaker at the last NAFUSA conference, held in San Francisco in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented holding conferences in 2020 and 2021. Our next conference is scheduled for April 6-8, 2022, at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Director Wray will return and open the conference with remarks at the Welcome Reception on the evening of April 6, 2022.

Christopher Wray became the eighth Director of the FBI on August 2, 2017.

Mr. Wray was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale University in 1989 and earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1992. He then clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 1993, he began working in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mr. Wray began his Department of Justice career in 1997 as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, where he prosecuted cases ranging from public corruption to gun trafficking and financial fraud. In 2001, he joined the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, where he served as associate deputy attorney general and then principal associate deputy attorney general, with oversight responsibilities spanning the full Department.

In 2003, Mr. Wray was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division. In addition to overseeing criminal matters, Mr. Wray played a key role in the evolving national security mission of the Department as it responded to the attacks on 9/11. He also served on the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and supervised the Enron Task Force and other major national and international fraud investigations. At the conclusion of his tenure, Mr. Wray was awarded the Edmund J. Randolph Award, the Department of Justice’s highest award for leadership and public service.

After leaving the Department of Justice in 2005, Mr. Wray returned to private practice at the law firm King & Spalding, where he chaired the Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group.

The Welcome Reception will be sponsored by our friends at Guidepost Solutions. Golf will be available on Wednesday morning, and CLE meeting will take place on Thursday and Friday mornings. The Planning Committee is putting together a very exciting program, details of which will appear on our website and in the monthly newsletter. The conference will conclude on Friday, April 8, with a dinner and a keynote speaker to be announced.

Registration will begin mid-January. Members will receive email invitations. The registration form will include an option for booking a room at the Del Coronado. It is suggested that you register early in order to assure a room.

Joe Whitley Discusses Enforcement Trends in Corporate Crime

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Lisa

NAFUSA member Joe Whitley joins his partner, Luke Cass, to discuss enforcement trends in corporate crime on the Womble Bond Dickinson “In-house Roundhouse” podcast. They discuss how white-collar enforcement priorities change when there is a new administration and how in 2021 the Biden Administration is implementing its own set of compliance priorities and enforcement emphasis.

Whitley and Cass find three takeaways from the discussion:

In recent remarks, top DOJ officials stated that DOJ will “surge resources” and “redouble efforts” for corporate enforcement.
Areas of particular concern include Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government contracting fraud, financial fraud, tax issues, and energy pricing benchmark manipulation.
Strong compliance programs must be top-down, with C-Suite executives enforcing the importance of compliance. Should problems occur, the first call should always be to legal counsel.

Click here to read “Biden Administration Prioritizes Corporate Criminal Enforcement.

Peter Vaira Writes of a Law School Class on Leadership

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Lisa

NAFUSA member Peter Vaira has published an article in The Legal Intelligencer entitled “Leadership as a Law School Class: Understanding What It Is and What It Is Not.” Vaira describes how “Duquesne University Law School now offers a full school year class in leadership. There is no particular law subject involved, just the concept of leader