Federal Crime Attorney in Contra Costa County

Daniel Horowitz is an Experienced Federal Defense Lawyer

Daniel Horowitz has litigated some of the most complex federal cases at the trial level.  He represented former Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.  He defended one of the alleged leaders of the MS-13 gang operating out of Dolores Park in San Francisco. His federal defense work has taken him around the world including China, Ukraine, Canada and The Netherlands.   Daniel's federal law expertise has recently been featured on national television networks as he analyzes the federal criminal charges lodged against former President Donald Trump.  (Note: Attorney Horowitz is not the Daniel Horowitz of the Conservative Review)

 Daniel Horowitz was on the Bench/Bar Committee that first developed criminal discovery rules for the production of electronic materials for use in federal criminal defense.  He was the attorney who pioneered providing MP3 players to criminal defendants facing trial while in federal custody so that they could listen to federal wiretaps and witness interviews prior to trial.  When scanned and OCR'd paperwork was just beginning to become the norm in criminal trials, Daniel Horowitz and Jim Davis pioneered the use of electronic discovery in criminal cases.  Daniel was a beta tester for now established software such as DTSearch and Casemap.

Federal case defense requires an experienced federal lawyer.  If you are facing criminal charges or under investigation,  Daniel Horowitz is a top choice for an aggressive federal defense.

   What Crimes are Federal Crimes?

A federal crime is a criminal offense that is created by and prosecuted by the United States government rather an individual state. Federal crimes are typically defined by statutes enacted by Congress.  

  State Crimes Can Also Be Federal Crimes

 There are also crimes that concurrently violate a federal and a state statute.   Double Jeopardy does not prevent the concurrent prosecution of crimes in state and federal courts.   In Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara County the United States Attorney will often coordinate with state agencies during fraud and white collar crime investigations.  Cases that start with state agencies may ultimately be prosecuted in federal court if the state investigation reveals fraud against Medicare or other federal agencies.   The number of federal crimes is truly outstanding.  Our blog has a list.

 List of All Federal Crimes under Title 18 & 26

What are Some Common Federal Crimes?

Federal crimes are often related to specific industries. SEC violations, regulatory violations, FARA and other foreign business violations constitute federal crimes. More commonly the most common federal crimes are:

Medical Fraud:  Healthcare Fraud  AKS,  Stark Law violations, state crimes such as violations of California Penal Code section 550, Worker's Compensation Fraud.  

(Read About DME & Telemedicine Fraud)

Counterfeiting: Producing fake currency or forging government documents including immigration documents.

Bank Robbery: Robbing a bank that is federally insured.

Drug Trafficking: Violations of federal drug laws, especially when drugs are transported across state lines or national borders.  These crimes often carry huge penalties even for drugs such as marijuana.   (Federal  Drug Crime Page)

Mail and Wire Fraud: Using the mail or electronic communications to carry out fraudulent schemes.  Other that simple robbery, car theft and garden variety crimes, almost any ongoing fraud scheme will be charged at least in part as mail fraud or wire fraud.   

Tax Evasion: Deliberately avoiding payment of taxes owed to the federal government.  Hunter Biden once charged with tax evasion in large amounts has quickly been tagged with even small violations such as reporting a payment to a call girl as a business expense.  Tax crimes are usually not filed for small amounts but once a federal tax charges if filed, even the small tax frauds are included either as a separate charge, part of the loss amount or as proof at trial of a broad criminal intent.

Terrorism: Engaging in activities that involve violent or dangerous acts intended to intimidate or coerce the civilian population, influence government policy, or affect the conduct of government.

Immigration Violations: Violations of federal immigration laws, such as illegal entry into the country or visa fraud.

White Collar Crimes: Various financial crimes like insider trading, securities fraud, and embezzlement that fall under federal jurisdiction.  The Horowitz office has defended some of the larger white collar cases in this country.  Daniel Horowitz’ defense of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavel Lazarenko involved (at one point) a government claim of over $ 1 billion dollars in loss.

Cybercrimes: Offenses involving computer systems, networks, and data that may have a national impact.  Daniel Horowitz has extensive background in tech as does his legal team.

Federal Sentencing

Federal sentencing is akin to calculating quadratic equations.  For financial crimes the “loss amount” is the greatest driver of penalty.  The nuances and debates are endless.  What is the loss amount?  is it retail, wholesale, the intended loss or the actual loss?  Different federal districts can have different rules and some issues are still undecided.  The federal sentencing “book” is written by a committee and all federal judges follow it.  

In drug cases mandatory minimum sentences and the possibility of dropping charges drastically to “phone counts” can spin your head if you look to apply any fundamental logic or consistency to the federal rules.

You can look at the entire Federal Sentencing Guidlines here.

While the goal of the federal sentencing guidelines is promote fairness and uniformity in sentencing, most federal defense lawyers find that it is a bog of complications, possibilities and dangers which have little uniformity and little case by case consistency.