Daniel A. Saunders is a leading trial and appellate lawyer focusing on a variety of complex business litigation and white collar cases. Dan represents corporate and individual clients in a broad range of civil and criminal litigation and government, regulatory, and internal investigations, including for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Securities Exchange Act and False Claims Act. Dan has tried more than 40 jury trials, and has briefed and/or argued more than 50 appeals before various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Dan spent 14 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, serving in a number of positions, including as Deputy Chief of the Violent & Organized Crime Section. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dan prosecuted hundreds of cases covering a broad range of federal criminal offenses, including the highly publicized RICO/wiretapping prosecution of private investigator Anthony Pellicano and his associates. Dan received the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, as well as the Department of Justice's Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Dan has taught trial advocacy and evidence courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and also served for seven years as a professor of constitutional law and criminal procedure at Glendale University College of Law. In addition, he has lectured on the American criminal justice system and prosecution of organized crime, money laundering, and public corruption cases at numerous international conferences.
He clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Boochever.
Work Highlights
Prior to Joining Kasowitz
- United States v. Carlo Pacileo/People v. Carlo Pacileo - Represented defendant in federal case involving conspiracy and computer hacking and related state charges. In federal case, successfully argued for sentence of probation over government’s request for one year in prison; in state case, successfully reduced felony charge to misdemeanor and obtained full dismissal of case after defendant’s performance of community service.
- United States v. Ali Amin - Represented Iranian-American businessman who pleaded guilty to unlicensed money transmitting, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, and filing false tax returns. Successfully persuaded court to reject 57-71 month imprisonment range set by federal sentencing guidelines and instead impose sentence of three years’ probation.
- United States v. Dmitry Fomichev - Represented Russian entrepreneur in federal jury trial on tax fraud charges. Obtained a full dismissal of all tax charges at close of the government’s case based on the judge’s finding that there was insufficient evidence to submit the case to the jury.
- Hinrichs & Associates, et al., vs. Beats Electronics, LLC, et al. - Represented Beats Electronics, Jimmy Iovine, and Dr. Dre in lawsuit over authorship of design of music headphone models and rights to attendant royalties.
- United States v. Sherman Mazur — Represented the lead defendant in a $30 million stock manipulation indictment. Obtained a full dismissal of all charges against Mazur and eight co-defendants prior to trial through motion to suppress wiretap evidence.
- United States v. Howard Berger — Represented businessman charged with multiple counts of tax fraud, obstructing an IRS audit and lying to IRS agents. A jury trial in federal court resulted in not-guilty verdicts on all counts after less than an hour of jury deliberations.
- Fortune 500 company in internal investigation of potential violations of FCPA accounting provisions stemming from falsification of expense reports and use of company assets for illegal overseas activities.
- United States v. Mary Estelle Curran — Represented widow who pleaded guilty to concealing $43 million from IRS in offshore accounts. Co-authored sentencing memo that resulted in the United States District Judge imposing a sentence of five seconds of probation and chastising government for bringing the case.
- United States v. Ronald Milam — Represented Native American tribal artifacts dealer facing potential of several years’ incarceration for violations of Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Successfully secured non-prosecution of all felony charges and guilty plea to a single misdemeanor count with one year of unsupervised probation.
- Employees of healthcare subsidiary of Fortune 500 company in DOJ criminal investigation and private civil litigation alleging off-label marketing of medical device.
- Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of Fortune 500 company in SEC investigation of corporate accounting practices.
- In re Oil Spill From the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon — Served on defense team representing non-operating partners of BP in multi-district litigation resulting from Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
- Consumer electronics start-up company in connection with royalty audit, termination of distribution agreement, and internal employee investigation.
- Life insurance company in internal investigation of whistleblower allegations of underwriting process exceptions and anti-money laundering violations.
- Lead counsel in the six-year investigation and RICO/wiretapping prosecution of private investigator Anthony Pellicano and 13 of his criminal associates, including lawyer Terry Christensen, LAPD Sergeant Mark Arneson and film director John McTiernan. The case featured five jury trials, including 11-week and 6-week trials, as well as extensive grand jury proceedings and more than 150 motions briefed/opposed. All defendants were convicted.
- Lead counsel in the 10-week trial of seven defendants in the largest Eastern European human trafficking case ever filed in the United States. All defendants were convicted.
- Obtained conviction of former Hollywood nightclub owner Eddie Nash on racketeering charges related to 1981 “Wonderland” murders.
- Obtained healthcare fraud convictions and 22 1/2-year sentence for serial M.D. impersonator Gerald Barnbaum (aka Gerald Barnes).
Media