Eric Neff’s tenure on the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace ended after he was positioned on administrative depart in 2022 over accusations of misconduct within the prosecution of the CEO of Konnech, a software program firm that election conspiracy theorists mentioned was within the thrall of the Chinese language authorities.
Now, three years later, Neff is serving as one of many Trump administration’s prime election watchdogs.
Late final yr , his title started showing on lawsuits filed by the U.S. Division of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, listed as “performing chief” of the voting part.
Neff’s appointment, first reported by Mom Jones, has prompted renewed scrutiny of his work on the L.A. County district lawyer’s workplace.
The Occasions interviewed a number of of Neff’s former colleagues, who revealed new particulars about claims of misconduct that emerged from the Konnech case, and mentioned they have been alarmed that somebody with virtually no background in federal election regulation was named to a senior place.
Neff led the 2022 investigation of Konnech, a tiny Michigan firm whose software program is utilized by election officers in a number of main cities. In a legal grievance, Neff accused the corporate’s CEO, Eugene Yu, of fraud and embezzlement, alleging the corporate saved ballot employee data on a server based mostly in China, a violation of its contract with the L.A. County registrar’s workplace.
Six weeks after a grievance was filed, prosecutors dropped the case and launched an investigation into “irregularities” and bias in the best way proof was introduced in opposition to Konnech, the D.A.’s workplace mentioned in a 2022 assertion.
The county paid Konnech $5 million and joined a movement to search out Yu factually harmless as a part of a authorized settlement.
The interior probe was targeted on accusations that Neff misled supervisors on the district lawyer’s workplace in regards to the function of election deniers in his investigation, in response to two officers with direct data of the case who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate it publicly.
Neff additionally allegedly withheld details about potential biases within the case from a grand jury, in response to the 2 officers.
In a civil lawsuit filed final yr, Neff mentioned the interior evaluation by the D.A.’s workplace cleared him of wrongdoing. The 2 officers conversant in the probe who spoke on the situation of anonymity disputed Neff’s characterization of the findings.
A spokesman for Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman declined to remark or present the outcomes of the investigation into Neff, which the officers mentioned was carried out by an outdoor regulation agency that generated a report on the case. Neff’s lawyer additionally didn’t present a duplicate of the report.
A Division of Justice spokesman declined to remark.
Neff’s lawyer, Tom Yu — no relation to the Konnech CEO — mentioned his shopper had no obligation to offer background details about the origins of the case to the grand jury.
Neff’s appointment comes as President Trump continues to remake the DOJ in his personal picture by appointing political loyalists with no legal regulation background as U.S. attorneys in New Jersey and Virginia and in search of prosecutions of his political enemies, reminiscent of former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump has by no means recanted his false declare that he gained the 2020 election.
When then-L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón introduced the costs in opposition to Konnech in 2020, Trump mentioned the progressive prosecutor would develop into a “Nationwide hero on the Proper if he bought to the underside of this facet of the Voting Fraud.”
The Konnech case was centered on contract fraud, not voter fraud or poll rigging. Six weeks after the costs have been filed, the case disintegrated.
The D.A.’s workplace cited Neff’s over-reliance on proof offered by True the Vote, the group that pushed the unfounded Chinese language authorities conspiracies about Konnech and in addition appeared in a movie that unfold claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Gascón initially denied that True the Vote was concerned within the case, however weeks later, a D.A.’s workplace spokesman mentioned a report from the group’s co-founder, Gregg Phillips, sparked the prosecution. Phillips testified in court docket in July 2022 that it was Neff who first contacted him about Konnech.
The 2 officers who spoke to The Occasions mentioned that Neff withheld True the Vote’s function from high-level D.A.’s workplace workers, together with Gascón, when presenting the case.
Gascón declined an interview request, noting he’s named in Neff’s pending lawsuit, which is slated for trial in early 2026.
Neff’s lawyer insisted the case in opposition to Konnech was strong.
“He was let go as a result of Trump tweeted an announcement of ‘Go George Go’,” the lawyer mentioned. “That’s why Eugene Yu was let go. As a result of Gascón was so scared he was going to lose votes.”
Calls and emails to an lawyer who beforehand represented Eugene Yu weren’t returned.
In his lawsuit, Neff claimed he had proof that “Konnech used third-party contractors based mostly in China and didn’t abide by safety procedures” to guard L.A. County ballot employee knowledge. The proof was not connected as an exhibit within the lawsuit.
A DOJ spokesperson declined to explain Neff’s job duties. His title seems on quite a lot of lawsuits filed in current months in opposition to states which have refused to show over voter registration lists to the Trump administration.
Neff can also be concerned in a swimsuit filed in opposition to the Fulton County clerk’s workplace in Georgia in search of data associated to the 2020 election, data present.
“We is not going to allow states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections legal guidelines,” Asst. Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, the California conservative who now leads the civil rights division, mentioned in a current assertion. “If states is not going to fulfill their obligation to guard the integrity of the poll, we are going to.”
Dhillon declined to remark by a DOJ spokesman.
The voting part “enforces the civil provisions of the federal legal guidelines that defend the suitable to vote, together with the Voting Rights Act,” in response to the DOJ’s web site.
It doesn’t seem that Neff has any background engaged on circumstances associated to federal election regulation. He first grew to become an L.A. County prosecutor in 2013 and spent years dealing with native crime circumstances out of the Pomona courthouse. He was promoted and reassigned to the Public Integrity Division, which investigates corruption points, in 2020, in response to his lawsuit.
Whereas there, he dealt with solely two prosecutions associated to elections. One was the Konnech case. The opposite concerned allegations of election rigging in opposition to a Compton metropolis council member.
In August 2021, Isaac Galvan, a Democrat, was charged with conspiring to commit election fraud after he allegedly labored to direct voters from outdoors his council district to solid ballots for him. Galvan gained the race by only one vote, however was booted from workplace when a decide decided not less than 4 improper ballots had been solid.
Galvan’s legal case continues to be pending; he just lately pleaded responsible to expenses in a separate corruption and bribery case in federal court docket. A spokesman for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Los Angeles mentioned there was no overlap between the D.A.’s election rigging case and the bribery case in opposition to Galvan. Federal prosecutors should not reviewing the Konnech case, the spokesman mentioned.
Court docket filings present Neff was concerned in Galvan’s L.A. County case, however the prosecution was led by a extra senior lawyer.
Justin Levitt, a constitutional regulation professor at Loyola Legislation College who served within the civil rights division through the Obama administration, mentioned part chiefs usually have many years of expertise within the space of regulation they’re meant to oversee.
“The most important drawback with someone with Neff’s historical past is the large screaming purple flag that includes submitting a prosecution based mostly on unreliable proof,” Levitt mentioned. “That’s not one thing any prosecutor ought to do.”
Neff’s lawyer, Yu, scoffed at the concept his shopper was not skilled sufficient for his new function within the Trump administration, or that he was chosen resulting from his involvement within the Konnech case.
“Eric bought the job as a result of he’s certified to get the job. He didn’t get the job for every other motive. He bought the job as a result of he’s a wonderful advocate,” Yu mentioned. “I believe the Justice Division could be very lucky to have Eric.”
Occasions Employees Author Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
