Eddie Jauregui, a former prosecutor and deputy chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, has joined Holland & Knight’s Los Angeles office as a litigation partner in the White Collar Defense and Investigations Team. He brings substantial experience to the firm acquired though work on high-profile criminal investigations, trials and appeals of fraud, bribery, extortion, public corruption, money laundering, tax and kickback cases.
Mr. Jauregui became an assistant United States attorney (AUSA) in 2014 and soon thereafter was selected to join the trial team prosecuting high-ranking officials within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for obstructing a federal investigation into civil rights abuses in the L.A. County jails. As one of the prosecutors who tried and convicted former Sheriff Leroy Baca and Undersheriff Paul Tanaka for obstruction of justice, Mr. Jauregui received multiple accolades, including the California Lawyer of the Year Award in 2018 and a Special Recognition Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association Criminal Justice Section.
Mr. Jauregui went on to join the Major Frauds Section, where he led complex investigations and prosecutions of massive fraud schemes. His work included a multiyear international investigation that resulted in the indictment of one of the world’s largest aluminum manufacturers for a scheme in excess of $1.8 billion. He also prosecuted attorneys, investment advisors and real estate professionals who defrauded their clients, and served as procurement fraud coordinator for the Central District of California.
Most recently, Mr. Jauregui was elevated to the position of deputy chief in the General Crimes Section, where he trained and supervised new prosecutors handling all types of federal cases, including violent and organized crime, drug and gun trafficking, bank and wire fraud, threats against federal officers and identity theft. As an AUSA, Mr. Jauregui worked on hundreds of matters, tried six jury trials, wrote numerous appellate briefs and argued three cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Mr. Jauregui spent six years in private practice as a litigator at two of the most well-respected law firms in New York and Los Angeles. He handled complex commercial litigation and investigations for U.S. and international corporations and financial institutions, working on civil and criminal antitrust investigations, import/export law, consumer protection, tax and mortgage fraud, and bribery.
“During his time as an assistant U.S. attorney, Eddie prosecuted and investigated some of the office’s most important and high-profile cases,” said Matt Donahue, leader of Holland & Knight’s West Coast Litigation Practice Group. “His impressive combination of government and law firm experience – on both coasts – makes him uniquely positioned to contribute significantly to our litigation and white-collar criminal defense practices on the West Coast and nationally. We are thrilled to welcome him to the firm.”
“I am excited to join Holland & Knight. The firm has one of the top litigation practices in the country, with particular strength in white collar defense and investigations,” Mr. Jauregui explained. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues in Los Angeles and across the firm to provide the best defense possible to clients facing governmental inquiries or criminal proceedings.”
Mr. Jauregui received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. While in law school, he served as an extern to then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and, upon graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Jan E. DuBois of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Jauregui also holds a Master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a B.A. degree in public policy from Occidental College. He is admitted to practice in California and New York.
