Monday, December 24, 2007
Page 3
Senate Confirms Nathan Hochman as Assistant Attorney General
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Beverly Hills attorney Nathan Hochman as assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Hochman, a member of the law firm now known as Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, was one of a number of President Bush’s nominees confirmed by voice vote Thursday night as the Senate rushed to finish its work for the year. The Tax Division has had a temporary head since Eileen O’Connor left earlier this year to head the new tax dispute and policy practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in Washington, D.C.
Hochman, who could not be reached for comment Friday, is a graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the Central District of California before serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles from 1990 to 1997.
He prosecuted over 180 cases, including tax crimes, health care fraud, bank fraud, defense contractor fraud, education fraud, customs fraud, money laundering, bribery, theft against government programs, perjury, obstruction of justice, violent crimes, and a wide variety of environmental crimes.
He served as the office’s environmental crimes coordinator for almost two years and then spearheaded the Los Angeles Disaster Fraud Task Force, which investigated and prosecuted individuals accused of defrauding disaster assistance programs, more than 70 of whom were convicted.
He received the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for superior performance as an assistant United States attorney, the Inspector General’s Award of Excellence, the Federal Bar Association’s Young Federal Lawyer Award, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s Prosecutorial Award.
He left the office 10 years ago to join the law firm co-founded by his father, Bruce Hochman, a prominent attorney, community activist, and philanthropist who died in 2001. In private practice, Nathan Hochman represented defendants and potential defendants in various tax and other white-collar criminal cases, and was also involved in tax and other civil litigation.
At the time of his nomination, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said in a statement that Hochman “has a superb record as an accomplished federal prosecutor and a recognized authority on tax law.”
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company