Robert E. Dugdale

Los Angeles

Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP partner Robert E. Dugdale navigates the legal complexities of high-stakes situations, including investigations related to mail and wire fraud, bribery, racketeering offenses, civil rights violations, money laundering and currency smuggling for his clients.

A former assistant U.S. attorney for 19 years, one of his recent cases involves representing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a controversial criminal probe by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

The investigation concerns allegations that a former member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors steered no-bid contracts to a nonprofit organization. In re: Search Warrant Served on Office of the Inspector General for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on September 14, 2022, BH014167 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 16, 2022).

"In the aftermath of the very public execution of search warrants in this case last year, including a search warrant conducted at the home of a sitting member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the California Department of Justice wrested control of the case from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department," Dugdale said. "Our principal challenge in the case since then has been convincing these new prosecutors, who have come into the case with fresh eyes and removed from the former sheriff's agenda in pursuing the case, that this case is an example of an abuse of power by the public officials conducting the investigation rather than the public officials they are investigating."

Dugdale notes a trend in white-collar defense work toward an increased emphasis on public corruption cases, particularly in Los Angeles. He anticipates more high-profile prosecutions of public officials in the coming years.

"In addition to the clear emphasis that the United States Attorney's Office in the Central District of California has placed in recent years on rooting out alleged public corruption, I also see the potential for an uptick in the number of complex corporate fraud cases brought by prosecutors in Los Angeles in the near future," Dugdale said. "While such prosecutions have not been the hallmark of the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles for a number of years, in October, the United States Attorney announced the formation of a Corporate and Securities Fraud Strike Force designed to 'expand and prioritize complex corporate securities fraud investigations' in Southern California."

He also noted the task force appears to be modeled after a similar task force established several years ago in the Northern District of California, which has had success in bringing complex cases targeting alleged criminal abuses by corporate insiders and individuals who have committed crimes that impact the financial system and trading markets.

"Utilizing a 'strike force' approach to investigate corporate fraud offenses appears to be an effort to move such investigations more swiftly and aggressively than their typically methodical pace, and we should see in relatively short order if it is an effort that bears fruit," Dugdale said.