Phillip Talbert speaks to the media about the Bitwise investigation in November 2023. Photo by Ben Hensley

U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert on Tuesday announced his resignation effective midnight on Jan. 11. He has served as the Presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California for 2 and ½ years.

The United States Attorney serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer responsible for prosecuting federal criminal cases and representing the United States in civil litigation. The Eastern District covers 34 counties throughout the Central Valley and the Sierras and has almost 100 attorneys and almost 100 non-attorney staff with offices in Fresno, Bakersfield and Sacramento.

“I thank President Biden for nominating me to the position and am grateful to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Alex Padilla, and Attorney General Merrick Garland for their support and confidence in me to lead this office of dedicated public servants,” Talbert said in a statement. “It has been a privilege to work alongside the talented attorneys and staff of this office as well as with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to protect the over 8 million residents who live in our district, to seek justice on behalf of victims, to safeguard civil rights, and to uphold the rule of law.”

 

Michele M. Beckwith will become the acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, according to a news release. Beckwith is a veteran federal prosecutor who served as first assistant U.S. Attorney to Talbert and earlier as executive assistant U.S. Attorney and criminal chief.

Talbert has served the Department of Justice for more than 31 years, and over the last 14 years in the Eastern District of California in leadership positions including first assistant, acting and interim U.S. Attorney. He was confirmed as the Presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney in June 2022.

In that time, his office has handled a number of notable criminal cases prosecuting gang defendants from MS-13 and the Aryan Brotherhood, individuals who sexually exploit children, major drug trafficking organizations, bank robbers, law enforcement officers who violate civil rights, corrupt government officials and more.

He secured criminal prosecutions of major local frauds, including cases against the two co-founders and co-CEOs of Bitwise Industries, who received 11-year and 9-year sentences for a $115 million fraud centered on a failed Fresno-based tech startup; former Congressman T.J. Cox, charged with fraud in conducting his private business dealings; and former local water district manager Dennis Falaschi convicted of a long-running scheme to divert and sell managed water.

Notable civil litigation under Talbert’s leadership includes multiple cases of health care fraud, including the following:

• Health Net Federal Services paid more than $97 million for overstated billings to the Veteran’s Administration.
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• Nor-Cal Pharmacies Inc. was shut down and ordered to pay $1 million for dispensing oxycodone and hydrocodone based on invalid prescriptions.
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• Oroville hospital is to pay $10.25 million for paying kickbacks to physicians in order to increase hospital admissions and admitting patients for whom they knew inpatient care was not medically necessary.
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• Francis Lagattuta and his clinic agreed to pay $11.4 million for billing for allegedly medically unnecessary skin biopsies, spinal cord stimulation surgeries, and urine drug testing.

 

He also secured recoveries for damage to federal lands based on negligently caused forest fires, including a $117 million payment by PG&E relating to the 2018 Camp Fire.

Talbert received his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in economics from Harvard University; his Master of Economics from the University of Sydney, Australia; which he attended on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship; and his Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law where he was the chief articles editor for the UCLA Law Review.