Attorney Stole DOJ Documents Months Before Leaving
Government Employment and Tried to Sell Them to Defendants In Federal Lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO– Jeffrey Wertkin was sentenced this afternoon
to 30 months in prison for obstruction of justice and transportation of stolen
property, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse; Department of
Justice Office of the Inspector General, Fraud Detection Office Special Agent
in Charge Lewe Sessions; and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in
Charge John F. Bennett. The Honorable
Maxine M. Chesney, U.S. District Judge, handed down the sentence after Wertkin
pleaded guilty to the charges last November.
“Mr. Wertkin has betrayed the trust placed in him by the
Department of Justice, his colleagues, and the American people,” said Acting
U.S. Attorney Alex Tse. “Today’s sentence hopefully restores the confidence in
public servants who take an oath to serve their government and demonstrates
that no one is above the law. Those who
run afoul of the rules established to ensure the proper function of government
will be prosecuted without fear or favor.”
“Wertkin abused his position for personal gain and violated
the nation’s trust. The DOJ-OIG will
continue to work tirelessly with its partners at the FBI and the U.S.
Attorney’s Offices to ferret out corruption and hold accountable those who
engage in theft and obstruction of justice,” stated DOJ-OIG Fraud Detection
Office Special Agent in Charge Lewe F. Sessions.
According to his plea agreement, Wertkin, 41, of Washington,
D.C., worked for the Civil Fraud Section of the Department of Justice from
October 24, 2010, until April 12, 2016.
During that time, he worked on qui tam actions pursuant to which the
government investigated companies suspected of breaking the law. Federal courts often order qui tam complaints
“sealed” and therefore kept from public view until it is appropriate for the
complaints to become public. In his plea
agreement, Wertkin admitted that during the last month of his employment as a
trial attorney with the Department of Justice, he began secretly reviewing and
collecting sealed qui tam complaints that were not assigned to him. Further, Wertkin has admitted that after he
left the Department of Justice, he used the stolen information improperly to
solicit clients that were the subject of the sealed complaints. Wertkin acknowledged that in one instance, he
was successful in using the information from a sealed complaint to convince the
company that it was the subject of a lawsuit and to retain him as an attorney
to represent it in the lawsuit. Wertkin
also acknowledged he lied to the Department of Justice in documents he
completed during his exit process regarding whether he stole the complaints.
The plea agreement also describes two occasions in which
Wertkin attempted to sell information to companies that were the subject of
government investigations. On November
30, 2016, Wertkin offered to sell a complaint to the corporation named in the
lawsuit. Then, between November 30,
2016, and January 31, 2017, Wertkin engaged in multiple conversations with a
representative of the corporation to negotiate the sale of the sealed complaint
for $310,000. Similarly, on January 23,
2017, Wertkin contacted a second corporation and offered to mail to the
representative a copy of the face sheet of the complaint. Wertkin actually mailed a redacted copy of
the face sheet and promised that, for a fee, he would provide the entire
complaint.
Wertkin was arrested on January 31, 2017, after traveling
from the Washington, D.C. Area to the San Francisco Bay Area with a copy of a sealed
complaint. On that day, Wertkin believed
he was meeting at a Cupertino hotel with a representative from a company and
that he was exchanging the complaint for a duffel bag filled with $310,000. In truth, Wertkin was meeting with an
undercover employee of the FBI. Wertkin
described the meeting in his sentencing memorandum as follows: “As part of his
escapist fantasy, Mr. Wertkin donned a wig and sunglasses and went to a hotel
in Sunnyvale with complaint in hand, whereupon he was arrested by the FBI.”
Further, Wertkin admitted that after his arrest, he took
steps in an effort to obstruct the ongoing criminal investigation. Specifically, after being released from
custody, Wertkin returned to his office, purportedly to retrieve his personal
belongings, and removed and destroyed documents from his office that he knew
could further incriminate him. Wertkin
also acknowledged he “placed two complaints in a used FedEx envelope in an
attempt to make it appear that sealed complaints had been accidentally mailed
to him by a DOJ employee.” Wertkin
acknowledged he took these and additional other steps in an effort to corruptly
obstruct the ongoing investigation and proceedings against him.
In sum, on November 1, 2017, Wertkin was charged by
information with two counts of obstruction of justice, in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 1505, and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314. Pursuant
to his plea agreement, Wertkin pleaded guilty to all counts.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robin L. Harris and William
Frentzen are prosecuting the case. The
prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Department of
Justice Office of the Inspector General.
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