Eric Neff’s tenure on the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace ended after he was positioned on administrative go away 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 identify 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 had been alarmed that somebody with virtually no background in federal election legislation 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 criticism, Neff accused the corporate’s CEO, Eugene Yu, of fraud and embezzlement, alleging the corporate saved ballot employee info on a server based mostly in China, a violation of its contract with the L.A. County registrar’s workplace.
Six weeks after a criticism was filed, prosecutors dropped the case and launched an investigation into “irregularities” and bias in the best way proof was offered towards 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 inner 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 approved 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 inner evaluate by the D.A.’s workplace cleared him of wrongdoing. The 2 officers accustomed to 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 performed by an out of doors legislation agency that generated a report on the case. Neff’s lawyer additionally didn’t present a replica 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 legislation background as U.S. attorneys in New Jersey and Virginia and looking for prosecutions of his political enemies, corresponding to former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump has by no means recanted his false declare that he received the 2020 election.
When then-L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón introduced the fees towards Konnech in 2020, Trump mentioned the progressive prosecutor would turn into a “Nationwide hero on the Proper if he bought to the underside of this side of the Voting Fraud.”
The Konnech case was centered on contract fraud, not voter fraud or poll rigging. Six weeks after the fees had been filed, the case disintegrated.
The D.A.’s workplace cited Neff’s over-reliance on proof supplied by True the Vote, the group that pushed the unfounded Chinese language authorities conspiracies about Konnech and likewise 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 courtroom 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 towards 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 identify seems on various lawsuits filed in latest months towards states which have refused to show over voter registration lists to the Trump administration.
Neff can be concerned in a go well with filed towards the Fulton County clerk’s workplace in Georgia looking for information associated to the 2020 election, information present.
“We won’t 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 latest assertion. “If states won’t fulfill their obligation to guard the integrity of the poll, we’ll.”
Dhillon declined to remark by means of a DOJ spokesman.
The voting part “enforces the civil provisions of the federal legal guidelines that defend the correct 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 legislation. 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 towards 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 received the race by only one vote, however was booted from workplace when a choose decided at the least 4 improper ballots had been solid.
Galvan’s legal case remains to be pending; he not too long ago pleaded responsible to costs in a separate corruption and bribery case in federal courtroom. 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 towards Galvan. Federal prosecutors are usually not reviewing the Konnech case, the spokesman mentioned.
Courtroom 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 legislation professor at Loyola Regulation Faculty who served within the civil rights division in the course of the Obama administration, mentioned part chiefs usually have many years of expertise within the space of legislation they’re meant to oversee.
“The most important downside with any individual with Neff’s historical past is the enormous screaming pink flag that entails 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 because of 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 another purpose. He bought the job as a result of he’s a superb advocate,” Yu mentioned. “I feel the Justice Division could be very lucky to have Eric.”
Occasions Workers Author Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
