Exceptional Outcomes Rooted in Distinctive Legal Expertise
SKT Co-Founder and Managing Partner (USA) Eliot Krieger defends professionals facing criminal investigations related to investment fraud, securities, health care regulation, real estate, and other fields.
Eliot’s three decades of trial experience include years at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm, a major international law firm, and as a civil and criminal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office.
Southern California’s Top Litigator
As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Eliot offers unique insight into the prosecution’s approach to case building. He recognizes the importance of conveying a favorable narrative to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office and advises professionals to retain counsel the moment federal agents start asking questions.
Eliot has earned a reputation as one of the top litigators in Southern California and in many cases, he has successfully persuaded the government to close investigations against his clients with no findings of any wrongdoing.
Professional Associations & Memberships
- IR Global
-
International Advisory Group
(IAG) Global - Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Pro Tem
As Seen In Forbes & Fortune
Avoid Potential Pitfalls with Experienced Oversight
Eliot consults with clients on proper business practices regularly to avoid appearances of impropriety while addressing problems before they trigger a criminal investigation.
He also provides oversight so that professionals can focus on business without the worry of regulatory violations. Eliot can dive into a case and quickly uncover business practices that may appear to violate federal law, unbeknownst to clients.
Education
Additional Experience
Healthcare Experience
Eliot has represented many major health care companies who are under investigation by Federal agencies, including the FBI, HHS, and OIG. Eliot understands the workings of the federal government from his years of experience there and knows how to protect you and your business during a government audit or investigation.
Eliot also handles a myriad of issues within the regulatory defense arena, working with the Department of Public Health (DPH) licensure investigations and appeals; reimbursement audits by private and governmental payors and their contractors; CMS; Medicare; Medi-Cal; National Government Services; fraud and abuse investigations by government payors and their contractors; Safeguard Services; Office of Inspector General; the FBI and DOJ; Department of Health Care Services; Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse; audit defense; Zone Program Integrity Contractor (ZPIC) (which replaced the Program Safeguard Contractors (PSC); and Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC).
Eliot has experience representing healthcare organizations working with audits from the California Department of Health Care Services.
Eliot has involvement with compliance issues such as licensing, operational, and reimbursement compliance; Medicare and Medi-Cal enrollment and changes of ownership; corrective action plans and other compliance strategies; prepayment review; licensure citations and deficiencies; Medicare and Medi-Cal enrollment errors; audit risk assessment; medical necessity of hospice claims; length of stays and number of nursing home patients; physician certifications/re-certifications; local coverage determination compliance and documenting medical necessity; terminal status in routine hospice claims; special physician service claims; in-patient hospice claims; compliance with hospice cap; HIPAA and state patient data privacy and security requirements; and False Claims Act compliance for marketing and business development activities.
Litigation Experience
- Represented high profile politician’s wife charged in Federal District Court with money laundering millions of dollars. Resulted in probationary sentence.
- Represented defendant accused of money laundering and structuring 6 million dollars. Resulted in civil compromise with no criminal prosecution
- Represented defendant accused of using a false passport and aiding a fugitive by the federal government. Resulted in no prosecution.
- Represented defendant accused by the US Attorneys Office of misusing millions of dollars of charity money and money from government grants. Resulted in no prosecution.
- Represented defendant accused of sale of millions of dollars of precursor chemicals to methamphetamines, facing over twenty years under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Resulted in 3 1/2 year sentence.
- United States Department of Justice: Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section
- Prosecuted white-collar crime. Cases included public corruption, money laundering, health care fraud, HUD fraud and immigration fraud.
- Prosecuted and tried only case in the Central District that convicted defendant of money-laundering for the purposes of tax evasion.
Trials Included
- United States v. Sorochkin (weapons).
- United States v. Batista (bank fraud, identity theft).
- United States v. Ramirez-Molina (immigration).
- United States v. Boujaoude (passport fraud).
- United States v. Laser Eye Center (health care fraud).
- United States v. Greybor Medical Transportation (fraud, money laundering, tax evasion).
- Received award from FBI for Laser Eye Center prosecution.
- Served as Indian Crimes Coordinator and Tribal Liaison for the Central District of California. Coordinated all tribal issues involving the United States Attorney’s Office arising in the Central District of California.
- Served as Immigration Fraud Coordinator.
- Headed Department of Justice pilot program designed to effectively prosecute fraud crimes perpetrated against undocumented aliens.
- Served as member of Immigration Fraud Task Force.
- Served as chairperson of multi-jurisdictional task force targeting fraud perpetrated by immigration consultants and attorneys. Law enforcement members of the task force included representatives from the United States Attorney’s Office—Los Angeles County; the District Attorney’s Office City of Los Angeles; the California Attorney General’s Office; the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the California State Bar. Full task force also included non-law enforcement groups, including the Mexican American Bar Association, the Coalition for Human Rights, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and a US Immigration Courts judge.
- International Business Experience.
- Worked with local counsel in negotiating several land deals regarding structuring of foreign investment in the Philippines.
- Advised and negotiated real estate deals for various Philippine corporations including
- Cambridge Real Estate Corp.
- Orsal Development Corp.
- Eco-Alternative Building Concepts Corp.
- Developed and arranged funding for three townhouse complexes near Clark, Philippines
Lectures & Classes
- White Collar Crime, Adjunct Professor / Instructor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
- “Thinking about Thinking: Integrating Law, Philosophy & Science”, Teaching Fellow / Instructor, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Philosophy, Visiting Assistant Professor (Part-Time), University of Maryland at Baltimore County
- “Government Investigations: I-9s, LCAs, and Other Immigration Related Investigations”, 16th Annual American Immigration Lawyers Association, California Chapter
- “Remarks on Federal Law Enforcement in Indian Country within the Central District of California”, Tribal and State Law Enforcement Summit, Rancho Mirage, California
- “Civil Enforcement of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act”, Federal Bureau of Investigation Conference on Gambling. Las Vegas, Nevada
- “Rifts Over RFRA: Divergent Approaches to the Free Exercise Clause”, Southern California Philosophy Conference, University of California Irvine, California
- “The Utility of a Philosophy Degree for Lawyers”, California State University, Long Beach Pre-Law Program, Long Beach, California
Published Work
- “Protected Expression: Towards a Speaker-Oriented Theory”, 73 Denver Law Review 69
- “The Court Declines in Fairness: Teague v. Lane”, 25 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 184
Other
- Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Pro Tem
Local College, Unjustly Accused
SKT represented a local college that was being unjustly accused of misusing federal funds. The government froze over $3.5 million
SKT Case Studies
No Charges Filed in Anti-Kickback Investigation
Dr. J* came to SKT as he understood that FBI and HHS OIG was investigating him for anti-kickback charges.
A Tale of Two Sentences
Doug* engaged SKT when he and his business partner, Fred*, were arrested for allegedly defrauding elderly of their retirement. The
SKT Case Studies
Local College, Unjustly Accused
SKT represented a local college that was being unjustly accused of misusing federal funds. The government froze over $3.5 million of the school’s money
No Charges Filed in Anti-Kickback Investigation
Dr. J* came to SKT as he understood that FBI and HHS OIG was investigating him for anti-kickback charges. Once SKT was retained, Mr.
A Tale of Two Sentences
Doug* engaged SKT when he and his business partner, Fred*, were arrested for allegedly defrauding elderly of their retirement. The amount of the fraud was