Eliot F. Krieger is a partner of SKT Law, P.C. and oversees the firm’s United State Practice Group. His focus is white collar criminal defense, civil litigation, international business and immigration.
Eliot travels between the U.S. and Asian offices and has associated and consulted with attorneys and law firms in the Philippines for over a decade on various legal issues from criminal defense to negotiating land deals for Philippine corporations.
Eliot has 25+ years of trial experience and is regarded as one of the top litigators in Southern California. His extensive trial experience comes from his years at one of the most prestigious Los Angeles county law firms; a major international law firm; and as an Assistant United States Attorney. During his time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eliot oversaw all federal immigration-related cases for the Central District of California and ran the Los Angeles County Immigration Task Force which coordinated local, state and federal immigration fraud prosecution, and assisted immigrants and non-immigrants seeking immigration status in Los Angeles County.
Mr. Krieger is named to the Southern California Super Lawyers’ list as one of the top 5% of attorneys in Southern California; has been recognized as one of the Top 1% of Attorneys in America; and has been honored by the FBI for his prosecution of fraud and corruption. Lastly, Mr. Krieger has been appointed as a Judge Pro Tem by the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Awards:
Education:
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, Massachusetts
J.D. / Cum Laude
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Ph.D., Philosophy
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
M.A., Philosophy
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
B.A. / Magna Cum Laude
Litigation Experience:
- Present high profile politician’s wife charged in Federal District Court with money laundering millions of dollars. Resulted in probationary sentence.
- Represented defendant accused of money laundering and structuring 6 million dollars. Resulted in civil compromise with no criminal prosecution.
- Represented defendant accused of using a false passport and aiding a fugitive by the federal government Resulted in no prosecution.
- Represented defendant accused by the US Attorneys Office of misusing millions of dollars of charity money and money from government grants. Resulted in no prosecution.
- Represented defendant accused of sale of millions of dollars of precursor chemicals to methamphetamines, facing over twenty years under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Resulted in 3 1/2 year sentence.
- United States Department of Justice: Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section
- Prosecuted white-collar crime. Cases included public corruption, money-laundering, health care fraud, HUD fraud and immigration fraud.
- Prosecuted and tried only case in the Central District that convicted defendant of money-laundering for the purposes of tax evasion.
Trials included:
- United States v. Sorochkin (weapons).
- United States v. Batista (bank fraud, identity theft).
- United States v. Ramirez-Molina (immigration).
- United States v. Boujaoude (passport fraud).
- United States v. Laser Eye Center (health care fraud).
- United States v. Greybor Medical Transportation (fraud, money laundering, tax evasion).
- Received award from FBI for Laser Eye Center prosecution.
- Served as Indian Crimes Coordinator and Tribal Liaison for the Central District of California. Coordinated all tribal issues involving the United States Attorney’s Office arising in the Central District of California.
- Served as Immigration Fraud Coordinator.
- Headed Department of Justice pilot program designed to effectively prosecute fraud crimes perpetrated against undocumented aliens.
- Served as member of Immigration Fraud Task Force.
- Served as chairperson of multi-jurisdictional task force targeting fraud perpetrated by immigration consultants and attorneys. Law enforcement members of the task force included representatives from the United States.
- Attorney’s Office—Los Angeles County; the District Attorney’s Office—City of Los Angeles; the California Attorney General’s Office; the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the California State Bar. Full task force also included non-law enforcement groups, including the Mexican American Bar Association, the Coalition for Human Rights, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and a US Immigration Courts judge.
- International Business Experience.
- Worked with local counsel in negotiating several land deals regarding structuring of foreign investment in the Philippines.
- Advised and negotiated real estate deals for various Philippine corporations including:
- Cambridge Real Estate Corporation
- Orsal Development Corporation
- Eco-Alternative Building Concepts Corp.
- Developed and arranged funding for three townhouse complexes near Clark, Philippines
Lectures and Classes:
- White Collar Crime, Adjunct Professor / Instructor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
- “Thinking about Thinking: Integrating Law, Philosophy & Science”, Teaching Fellow / Instructor, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Philosophy, Visiting Assistant Professor (Part-Time), University of Maryland at Baltimore County
- “Government Investigations: I-9s, LCAs, and Other Immigration-Related Investigations”, 16th Annual American Immigration Lawyers Association, California Chapter
- “Remarks on Federal Law Enforcement in Indian Country within the Central District of California”, Tribal and State Law Enforcement Summit, Rancho Mirage, California
- Civil Enforcement of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act”, Federal Bureau of Investigation Conference on Gambling. Las Vegas, Nevada
- Rifts Over RFRA: Divergent Approaches to the Free Exercise Clause”, Southern California Philosophy Conference, University of California Irvine, California
- “The Utility of a Philosophy Degree for Lawyers”, California State University, Long Beach Pre-Law Program, Long Beach, California
Published Work:
- “Protected Expression: Towards a Speaker-Oriented Theory”, 73 Denver Law Review 69
- The Court Declines in Fairness: Teague v. Lane”, 25 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 184
Other:
- Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Pro Tem