Assistant United States Attorney · 36 Years · Southern District of California
PhillipLBHalpern.com
Three decades pursuing the powerful.
A lifetime defending the rule of law.
Few prosecutors have sat at the intersection of federal corruption, national politics, and the American justice system — for as long, or with as much consequence — as Phillip Halpern. From the halls of the U.S. Congress to the highest levels of the CIA, his career defined what it means to hold power accountable.
About
For 36 years, Phillip L.B. Halpern served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California — one of the most consequential prosecutorial careers in the modern history of the American West. He did not prosecute ordinary crime. He prosecuted the kind of corruption that corrodes democracies from within: sitting members of Congress, intelligence officials, campaign finance conspiracies, and large-scale fraud operations that touched every corner of American public life.
His career sits at a rare and telling intersection — where federal law enforcement meets national politics, where the independence of the Department of Justice is tested under pressure, and where the outcomes of individual prosecutions can shake public trust in government itself. That vantage point is genuinely unique. Few people have it. Fewer still can write and speak about it with the authority of someone who lived it across four decades.
Since leaving federal service, Halpern has become a sought-after voice on questions of DOJ independence, prosecutorial ethics, the political weaponization of law enforcement, and the enduring challenge of holding elected officials accountable. His commentary in the San Diego Union-Tribune reflects the thinking of a lawyer who spent three decades not theorizing about justice — but delivering it.
"The moment a prosecutor begins weighing political consequences ahead of legal ones, the system has already failed."
Cases & Experience
The cases that defined a career — and, in several instances, reshaped American political history. Each prosecution tested a single enduring principle: that no one in the United States is above the law.
The prosecution of Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham — decorated Vietnam War ace and eight-term Republican — stands as one of the largest congressional bribery cases in American history. Cunningham accepted more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors in exchange for directing lucrative federal contracts their way. When confronted with the evidence, he wept on the steps of the courthouse and resigned from office. Sentenced to over eight years in federal prison, the case was a stark reminder that a distinguished military record and public adulation are no shield from accountability under the law.
Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife Margaret treated their congressional campaign account as a personal slush fund — using it for family vacations, school tuition, video games, and personal travel, then falsifying records to conceal it. The prosecution exposed a breathtaking sense of entitlement in a sitting member of Congress representing San Diego. Hunter ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison. The case became a landmark in campaign finance enforcement and a signal to elected officials that federal investigators would not look away from abuse of power, however entitled the defendant.
Kyle "Dusty" Foggo rose to become the Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency — the third-highest position in the entire intelligence community — before a federal investigation dismantled his career. Connected to the same web of defense contractor corruption that ensnared Duke Cunningham, Foggo was convicted of fraud for steering CIA contracts to a close friend in exchange for personal benefits. The case penetrated the highest levels of the American intelligence apparatus and raised serious questions about oversight, cronyism, and the culture of contracting that proliferated in the post-9/11 national security state.
One of the largest sports memorabilia fraud investigations in FBI history, Operation Bullpen dismantled a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise producing and distributing forged autographs attributed to Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and dozens of other American icons. The conspiracy defrauded thousands of collectors and dealers across the country, exploiting nostalgia and trust. The operation resulted in dozens of convictions and exposed the staggering scale of counterfeiting that had infected the memorabilia industry from coast to coast — a case as American in its subject matter as it was in its audacity.
Floyd Landis won the Tour de France in 2006 — then lost it after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. What followed was a years-long campaign of denial, public deception, and the solicitation of donations from loyal supporters for a legal defense Landis knew to be built on lies. The federal matter addressed the wire fraud dimensions of his fundraising scheme. His eventual admission of doping helped crack open one of the most elaborate performance-enhancement conspiracies in the history of professional sport, implicating Lance Armstrong and triggering an international reckoning.
The cases above represent only the most publicly visible chapters. Over 36 years in the Southern District of California, Halpern prosecuted a wide range of complex federal matters spanning public corruption at every level of government, campaign finance violations, organized fraud, and cases at the volatile intersection of law, politics, and national security. A consistent thread ran through all of them: a willingness to pursue difficult, politically sensitive cases that other offices might have found reasons to decline — and the experience and tenacity to see them through.
Writing & Commentary
Since leaving federal service, Halpern has written and spoken widely on the independence of the Department of Justice, the dangers of politicized prosecution, campaign finance enforcement, and the long arc of federal corruption in American public life. His commentary draws on lived experience — not theory.
Op-Eds & Commentary
The DOJ Is Not the President's Law Firm
San Diego Union-Tribune
What Prosecuting Congress Taught Me About Power
San Diego Union-Tribune
Campaign Finance Law Has Teeth — If We Choose to Use Them
San Diego Union-Tribune
When the CIA Comes to Court
Essay / Commentary
Themes & Areas of Expertise
Independence of the Department of Justice
Congressional Corruption & Accountability
Campaign Finance Enforcement
Prosecutorial Ethics & the Rule of Law
Speaking
With 36 years of prosecutorial experience spanning public corruption, campaign finance, intelligence community fraud, and complex federal investigations, Phillip Halpern brings a rare practitioner's voice to questions at the center of American public life.
The safeguards protecting federal prosecutors from political pressure — and what their erosion looks like in practice, from inside the building.
Inside the Cunningham, Hunter, and Foggo prosecutions: what motivated them, what they required, and what they revealed about power in America.
The tools available to federal prosecutors — and the political obstacles that too often prevent their use.
How high-profile federal cases interact with public opinion, political narratives, and the press — for better and worse.
A career retrospective: what changed, what endured, and what the American justice system still gets right — and dangerously wrong.
Lessons from the Foggo prosecution on applying civilian law accountability to the highest levels of the intelligence community.
Contact
For speaking engagements, media appearances, op-ed collaborations, or general correspondence.