NATHAN J. HOCHMAN

Nathan J. Hochman, the former Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.
Department of Justice’s Tax Division, is one of the nation’s leading
litigators, with a focus on complex civil, criminal defense, tax controversy,
securities, and environmental matters. Over the past three decades, he
has represented individuals and organizations involved as targets,
subjects, witnesses and victims in state and federal criminal and civil
investigations, grand jury, pre-trial proceedings and trials, has conducted
internal investigations, and has handled all phases of civil litigation,
arbitrations, trials, and appeals.
As one of the country’s top experts in criminal justice and tax matters,
Nathan regularly speaks around the United States and the world on a
wide variety of subjects in these fields. Recently, Nathan has spoken and
written in the area of U.S. and global enforcement in the cryptocurrency,
blockchain, and international tax arenas.

Nathan serves as General Counsel for Ross LLP, where he counsels the firm’s management on issues of risk management, conflict of interest, professional responsibility, communications, and policy initiatives. He previously served as a partner and General Counsel for Ellis George Cipollone O’Brien Annaguey LLP.

Previously, Nathan was a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius,
where he was the deputy chair their white collar investigations and
enforcement practice, and a partner at Bingham McCutchen, where he
was the chair of their white collar investigations and enforcement
practice.
Before joining the ranks of private practitioners, Nathan served for seven
years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Criminal Division of the Central
District of California. In that role, Nathan prosecuted over 100 cases,
ranging from tax violations, bank fraud, loan fraud, securities fraud,
money laundering, and public corruption to government program fraud,
customs fraud, environmental crimes, arson, narcotics trafficking, bank
robbery, gang crimes and alien smuggling. He spearheaded the Los
Angeles Disaster Fraud Task Force, where he led a federal, state and local
interagency law enforcement team and prosecuted scores of cases,
recovering millions of dollars for victims. Nathan served as the
Environmental Crimes Coordinator, bringing criminal cases against air,
water and land polluters and wildlife smugglers. He tried over 20 jury
trials, argued over 20 federal appeals, and ran over 30 complex grand jury
investigations.
In 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Nathan to serve as an
Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax
Division. After being confirmed by the Senate, Nathan led over 350
lawyers litigating civil, criminal and appellate tax cases in every federal
court in the nation.
Nathan clerked for United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in Los
Angeles. He has previously been appointed as a federal receiver in several
cases.
Nathan served as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles City Ethics
Commission for five years from 2011-2016, including as its President. He
has been a board member on numerous community and non-profit
boards including those for Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the American
Jewish University. Working with the American Wheelchair Mission,
Nathan has personally delivered with his family over 1,000 wheelchairs to
those in need throughout the United States and on four continents.

Email: nhochman@rossllp.la

Government Representations

United States v. Wesley Snipes — Argued as part of government sentencing team where the district court sentenced Snipes to three years imprisonment on failure to file tax convictions.

United States v. Texaco, 528 F.3d 703 (9th Cir. 2008) — Argued government’s position on appeal where Ninth Circuit overturned
district court’s summary judgment ruling for Texaco and remanded for entry of judgment for the government. The court ruled that the inventory exception in 26 U.S.C. § 1341(b)(2) prevented the company from taking advantage of the favorable tax treatment of Section 1341(a) involving over $100 million.

Kandi v. United States, 2008 US App. LEXIS 20761 (9th Cir. 2008) (unpublished) — Argued government’s position on appeal where Ninth Circuit upheld district court’s granting of summary judgment for the government, concluding that deference was owed to the IRS’s “check the box” regulations for whether an individual and/or his corporation would be responsible for unpaid employment taxes.

Palahnuk v. Commissioner, 544 F.3d 471 (2nd Cir. 2008) — Argued government’s position on appeal where Second Circuit affirmed Tax Court ruling for the IRS, holding that the rules governing the calculation of net operating loss for regular tax purposes also apply for the alternative tax net operating loss purposes.

United States v. Flowers, 2008 US LEXIS 10943 (9th Cir. 2008) (unpublished) — Argued government’s position on appeal where Ninth Circuit affirmed district court’s sentence that did not include imprisonment, on third government appeal, under deferential abuse of discretion review in criminal tax defier case.

United States v. Gardellini, 545 F.3d 1089 (D.C. Cir. 2008) — Argued government’s position on appeal where D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 split decision, affirmed the district court’s sentence of probation after consideration of 18 U.S.C. Section 3553(a) factors in criminal tax case.

United States v. Tomko, 05-4997 (3rd Cir. 2009) (en banc) — Argued government’s position on en banc appeal where Third Circuit, in an 8-5 split decision, affirmed district court sentence of home detention in the very home “built by the taxpayers” where original circuit panel vacated sentence as substantively unreasonable.

Awards and Affiliations

Ranked, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, California, Chambers USA (2017–2020)
Recognized, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, Los Angeles, The Best Lawyers in America (2011–2020)

Recognized, Southern California, Criminal Defense: White Collar, Super Lawyers (2012–2020)

Member, Practice Group of the Year, Tax, Law360 (2017)

Recommended, Dispute resolution: Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense, The Legal 500 US (2016, 2018, 2019)
Recognized, Who’s Who in America (2009–2014)

Recognized, Who’s Who in American Law (2009, 2011, 2014)
Recognized, Who’s Who in American Politics (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014)

Recognized, Who’s Who in the West (2011–2014)

Recognized, Who’s Who in the East (2009–2010)

Certified specialist in criminal law, California Board of Legal Specialization (2004-2014)
President and Commissioner, Los Angeles City Ethics Commission (2011-2016)
Board of Visitors, Stanford Law School (former)
Executive cabinet member, Los Angeles Unified Jewish Fund Legal Division and Young Adult Division (1990-2007)
Board of Directors, American Technion Society
Board of Governors, Cedar Sinai Medical Center
Board of Directors, American Jewish University (former)
Board of Directors, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (former)
Co-chair, Legal Division, Los Angeles United Jewish Fund
Executive cabinet member, Los Angeles Jewish Community Relations Committee, Urban Affairs Commission and Government Relations Commission (former)
Founding Los Angeles member, Wexner Heritage Foundation
Recipient, California State Bar Tax Section V. Judson Klein Award
Recipient, Attorney General’s Medal
Recipient, IRS Chief Counsel’s Award
Recipient, Director’s Award for Superior Performance, U.S. Department of Justice
Recipient, Inspector General’s Award of Excellence
Recipient, Federal Bar Association’s Young Federal Lawyer Award
Recipient, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s Prosecutorial Award
Phi Beta Kappa, Brown University

Bar Admissions

State Bar of California
District of Columbia

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Tax Court

Education

Brown University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1985
Stanford Law School, J.D., 1988
Tokyo University, Visiting Student, 1986
The London School of Economics and Political Science, Visiting Student, 1983-1984