Meet Nathan Hochman, Candidate For CA Attorney General: Election 2022

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

If you’re looking for a candidate with a blue-chip lawyerly pedigree, you’ve found him. The son of Los Angeles’s “dean of tax litigators,” Hochman (pronounced “Hock-man”) went from Stanford to a federal judge clerkship to the U.S. Justice Department to the White House. Now, after two decades in private practice, where he represented elected officials, celebrities and tax-avoiding millionaires, the uber-ambitious legal eagle is seeking his biggest gig yet.

Hochman puts the public’s unease about violent crime and theft at the front and center of his campaign. But it’s his wide-ranging legal background that he says most distinguishes him from the other top applicants. Criminal prosecution, civil litigation, defense and political administration — he’s done it all. So despite never having held elected office, he says he’s ready to lead the state’s Department of Justice on day one.

One complicating factor: He’s a Republican in a state that hasn’t hired a member of that party for a statewide post since 2006. Hochman stresses that crime and safety are nonpartisan concerns and that his ideas are “common sense.” As for that big question hanging over all Republican candidates in California — did he vote for President Trump? He’d rather not say.

EXPERIENCE

White-collar defense attorney: 1997-2008; 2009-present

• When singer Lauryn Hill, Beverly Hills dermatologist Letantia Bussell and Florida multi-millionaire widow Mary Estelle Curran got in trouble with the IRS, they turned to Hochman.Represented former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca on charges that he obstructed a federal investigation into the county’s jails. Baca was convicted.
• Represented Santa Monica business consultant George Molsbarger in a criminal gambling and corruption case. The charges were dropped.

President and member of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission: 2011-2016

• Helped enforce state and municipal campaign finance, lobbying, public contract and other other transparency laws across the City of Los Angeles.
• Proposed creating a cash lottery program for anyone who casts a ballot to increase turnout. The idea didn’t go anywhere.

Assistant U.S. attorney general, tax division: 2008-2009

• Nominated by then-President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to oversee the federal government’s tax law enforcement operation.
• Launched the department’s National Tax Defier Initiative to sue and prosecute tax protesters who refuse to pay taxes for philosophical reasons. His most high profile target: Wesley Snipes.

Assistant U.S. attorney, Central District of California: 1990-1997

• Prosecuted nearly 200 federal cases across Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and the Central Coast, including public corruption, embezzlement, fraud, environmental crimes and snake and spider smuggling.
• Led the office’s task force to investigate and prosecute those who defrauded federal disaster relief programs in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

REFERENCES

• Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva
• Former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey
• Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey

FUN FACT

Nathan’s father Bruce Hochman was no garden variety defense attorney. Among his many high- roller clients was Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky. Dinner table conversations must have been interesting at the Hochman household.

Want to know where Hochman stands on some of the biggest questions facing California? Visit CalMatters for more on his views on hot-button issues, fundraising efforts, and online links.

CHECK OUT THE FULL CALMATTERS 2022 VOTER GUIDE HERE.