Jason Gonzalez serves as a Managing Director in Stroz Friedberg’s Los Angeles office where he supervises digital forensic and cybercrime investigations, electronic discovery matters, critical infrastructure protection projects, and data breach response efforts. He also oversees complex white collar investigations involving online fraud, forgery of email and documents, identity theft, employee misconduct, and theft of trade secrets for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and law firms.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gonzalez was an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Central District of California. Most recently assigned to the Major Frauds Section, he conducted eleven federal felony jury trials, four Ninth Circuit oral arguments, and dozens of evidentiary hearings. He investigated and prosecuted white collar crime involving securities, tax, bankruptcy, health care, access device fraud, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft, as well as numerous matters involving electronic evidence, telecommunications tracking, and computer search warrants. His successful investigations and prosecutions included: a life insurance fraud scheme involving the murder of homeless people by two elderly women; a tax fraud scheme by a former manager of the Grateful Dead; an export-import bank fraud scheme; a multi-million dollar line-of-credit fraud scheme run by several recycling companies; and a health care and tax fraud scheme by a prominent plastic surgeon.
For two years, as Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section, Mr. Gonzalez supervised and trained approximately 60 new AUSAs in all aspects of criminal practice, including investigations, handling of digital evidence, discovery, and trial. He also served as International Coordinator for Legal Assistance, coordinating and supervising the assignment and execution of all incoming investigatory requests from foreign countries for legal assistance pursuant to various international agreements.
Mr. Gonzalez previously served as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office where he successfully conducted nine jury trials, two Ninth Circuit oral arguments, and dozens of arbitrations and motions hearings in federal and state courts. As an Associate Litigation Attorney at O’Melveny & Myers, Mr. Gonzalez defended clients in intellectual property and consumer class action litigation. His cases included several high-profile trade secrets, copyright, and criminal matters primarily involving allegations of theft of source code and other intellectual property, as well as cases involving financial products that allegedly violated consumer protection statutes.
Mr. Gonzalez earned his J.D. from Stanford University Law School, where he was a managing editor and symposium editor for the Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance, and his B.A., with high honors, in Comparative Literature, from the University of Michigan.