Duane Morris LLP is pleased to announce that special counsel Jason M. Ohta, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, has joined the firm to bolster its existing white-collar criminal defense capabilities in San Diego. He will work closely with partner and fellow former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Lipman. Ohta joins the firm from Latham & Watkins LLP.

Ohta focuses his practice on all aspects of white-collar criminal defense and related parallel proceedings, regulatory matters and complex business litigation. He has extensive experience representing entities and individuals in matters involving healthcare fraud, money laundering, off-label marketing, criminal environmental violations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ohta also has handled complex civil litigation matters involving healthcare issues and the Civil False Claims Act. He is an active member of the San Diego County Bar Association, serving as a co-chair of its Law and Medicine Section.

Prior to entering private practice, Ohta served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California in San Diego, where he prosecuted a wide variety of federal crimes that included Medicare fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, alien smuggling and other immigration violations. Prior to that, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Thomas J. Whelan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Ohta is a 2000 graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law, where he was executive editor of the San Diego International Law Journal, and a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

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