Fraud Prosecution in the DC Area Forum

[mdaoca]

Hi All,

I've been a prosecutor for a while, doing mostly violent and organized crime. I am interested in transitioning to a more white collar/fraud focus, and am exploring options in the DC area. The main ones that come to mind are EDVA/DC USAO (District Court not Superior Court)/"Main Justice." Does anyone have experience with the fraud sections in these places? My impressions are that EDVA fraud is mostly focused on government contractors, Main Justice Fraud is a bit of a beast with all the travel, and I have no idea what DC USAO's fraud section is like--which maybe isn't the best sign.

Any anecdotes about the type of cases, job satisfaction, type of people working in these offices would be greatly appreciated! If you think I'm missing out a great option let me know too! I like actually being in court though and am not interested in pursuing a regulatory role.

Also, I realize all of these are great offices/difficult to get, but let's just ignore that detail for now

[Anonymous User]

EDVA has a fraud unit and, as you suspected, they do a lot of government contracting fraud. The fraud unit at EDVA (in Alexandria) also prosecutes public corruption so a lot of those cases with contractors have bribery + fraud and so have a public corruption element. EDVA’s cyber crime unit also prosecutes a ton of large scale financial fraud usually using means of hacking, fraud that involves the use of cryptocurrency or the dark web, and some other types of fraud that have a strong online nexus (large scale identity theft + fraud).

My understanding is that at EDVA, you get hired into a unit. So the only way to get into the fraud unit or cyber unit there is to get hired by the unit itself. You don’t get hired and go to general crimes for a year or two and then get out in a specialized unit based on your interest.

The fraud section at main has different divisions. If you’re doing FCPA work, you’re traveling all the time, including heavily international travel. If you’re doing securities and financial fraud, you also travel. If you’re based in DC for health care fraud you’re doing mostly regional travel because they have teams run by main all over the country dealing with this. HCF is hot right not, but I could see that work becoming less valuable if the opioid epidemic becomes less problematic or less of a political priority.

The DC USAO (district court division) has superb prosecutors and does a lot of good financial fraud work, but it really seems more localized. .

As for other areas to prosecute fraud, don’t forget about Maryland’s USAO which is close in the area. Treasury also has a few prosecutors that conduct fraud investigations from time to time.

[Anonymous User]

Sorry double post

[mdaoca]

Thanks, this is super helpful. What about MLARS at main vs the fraud section at main? It seems like there is significant overlap between the two; are there any practical differences or is it really the same/similar work in a different section?

EDVA has a fraud unit and, as you suspected, they do a lot of government contracting fraud. The fraud unit at EDVA (in Alexandria) also prosecutes public corruption so a lot of those cases with contractors have bribery + fraud and so have a public corruption element. EDVA’s cyber crime unit also prosecutes a ton of large scale financial fraud usually using means of hacking, fraud that involves the use of cryptocurrency or the dark web, and some other types of fraud that have a strong online nexus (large scale identity theft + fraud).

My understanding is that at EDVA, you get hired into a unit. So the only way to get into the fraud unit or cyber unit there is to get hired by the unit itself. You don’t get hired and go to general crimes for a year or two and then get out in a specialized unit based on your interest.

The fraud section at main has different divisions. If you’re doing FCPA work, you’re traveling all the time, including heavily international travel. If you’re doing securities and financial fraud, you also travel. If you’re based in DC for health care fraud you’re doing mostly regional travel because they have teams run by main all over the country dealing with this. HCF is hot right not, but I could see that work becoming less valuable if the opioid epidemic becomes less problematic or less of a political priority.

The DC USAO (district court division) has superb prosecutors and does a lot of good financial fraud work, but it really seems more localized. .

As for other areas to prosecute fraud, don’t forget about Maryland’s USAO which is close in the area. Treasury also has a few prosecutors that conduct fraud investigations from time to time.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is super helpful. What about MLARS at main vs the fraud section at main? It seems like there is significant overlap between the two; are there any practical differences or is it really the same/similar work in a different section?

EDVA has a fraud unit and, as you suspected, they do a lot of government contracting fraud. The fraud unit at EDVA (in Alexandria) also prosecutes public corruption so a lot of those cases with contractors have bribery + fraud and so have a public corruption element. EDVA’s cyber crime unit also prosecutes a ton of large scale financial fraud usually using means of hacking, fraud that involves the use of cryptocurrency or the dark web, and some other types of fraud that have a strong online nexus (large scale identity theft + fraud).

My understanding is that at EDVA, you get hired into a unit. So the only way to get into the fraud unit or cyber unit there is to get hired by the unit itself. You don’t get hired and go to general crimes for a year or two and then get out in a specialized unit based on your interest.

The fraud section at main has different divisions. If you’re doing FCPA work, you’re traveling all the time, including heavily international travel. If you’re doing securities and financial fraud, you also travel. If you’re based in DC for health care fraud you’re doing mostly regional travel because they have teams run by main all over the country dealing with this. HCF is hot right not, but I could see that work becoming less valuable if the opioid epidemic becomes less problematic or less of a political priority.

The DC USAO (district court division) has superb prosecutors and does a lot of good financial fraud work, but it really seems more localized. .

As for other areas to prosecute fraud, don’t forget about Maryland’s USAO which is close in the area. Treasury also has a few prosecutors that conduct fraud investigations from time to time.

Not the anon from above, but just based on my experience on the biglaw side the difference is the substantive kind of cases, which is pretty much like the names suggest, ie, if you have a money laundering/bank secrecy act case, it’s going to be MLARS, not Fraud that is involved.