Thomas O'Brien

Los Angeles

Thomas O'Brien career spans both defense and prosecution roles. His experience at the U.S. attorney's office covers a broad spectrum of sensitive cases, such as civil and criminal tax investigations, RICO, FCPA, FCA, espionage and treason, hate crimes, human trafficking, police misconduct and health care matters.

O'Brien's significant cases include achieving acquittal for his client, Dr. Mirali Zarrabi, on all 33 felony counts in a $355M insurance fraud scheme on the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business. U.S. v. Julian Omidi et al., 2:17-cr-00661 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 18, 2017).

"What I have always found notable is while a jury trial spells out the evidence supporting the government's charges, it also requires law enforcement to publicly explain all of its actions taken since the beginning of the investigation," O'Brien said. "Jurors correctly hold the government to a very high-performance standard, and a trial is the best opportunity to highlight any possible missteps taken during the investigation and prosecution and to offer a different way for jurors to view the evidence."

In another major case, he led the defense for Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless in a complex bribery and corruption case involving 34 defendants, where a mistrial was declared for Loveless. USA v. Newland et al., 3:17-cr-00623 (S.D. Cal., filed March 10, 2017).

"Every trial has its unique challenges, and United States v. Newland, et al., certainly had more than most. Setting aside the logistical hurdles presented by conducting a four-month-long jury trial in another city during the COVID epidemic, we were provided with millions of documents in discovery, some of which were classified, and an initial government witness list containing 100 names," O'Brien said. "Fortunately, I was blessed with leading a very strong trial team, which also consisted of my partner Ivy Wang, and Daniel Prince and his team from Paul Hastings LLP. In addition, the four co-defendants were all represented by incredible trial attorneys who did a masterful job attacking the government's evidence with us."

In terms of industry trends, he noted a continued strong enforcement focus by the Department of Justice on corporate malfeasance, with an increased emphasis on holding individual wrongdoers responsible. He observes a rise in self-reporting and subsequent federal investigations due to DOJ policies incentivizing corporations to voluntarily disclose criminal activity, including assistance in investigating responsible individuals.

"Thus far, it appears that many corporations that are participating in the self-disclosure process are receiving the benefits of their decision to cooperate, but it remains to be seen if this corporate satisfaction with the program will continue," O'Brien said.