Bilal A. Essayli Sworn in as United States Attorney, Becoming Chief Federal Prosecutor in Nation’s Most-Populous Federal Trial District

LOS ANGELES – Bilal A. “Bill” Essayli was sworn in today as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California following his appointment Tuesday by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

The appointment of Mr. Essayli, 39, was made pursuant to Title 28 United States Code Section 546, which provides that “the Attorney General may appoint a United States Attorney for the district in which the office of United States Attorney is vacant.”

Mr. Essayli, who was sworn in this morning in a private ceremony by Chief United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee, now oversees the largest United States Attorney’s Office outside of Washington, D.C. The office, which currently employs more than 250 lawyers, serves approximately 20 million residents in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to lead the United States Attorney’s Office and serve the people of the district that I have called home for so many years,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “As our district’s chief federal prosecutor, I will work diligently and tirelessly with our federal and local law enforcement partners to implement the priorities of the President and the Attorney General and to protect our communities from criminals. Our citizens deserve no less.”

Mr. Essayli returns to the office after serving as a twice-elected member of the California State Assembly, representing California’s 63rd State Assembly District from December 2022 until Tuesday. The 63rd District is comprised of communities including parts of Riverside and Corona, and the cities of Menifee and Norco.

In October 2019, he founded and was a partner at the Newport Beach-based law firm Essayli & Brown LLP.

From October 2014 to February 2018, Mr. Essayli served as an assistant United States attorney in our district, serving in the Los Angeles and Riverside offices. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Essayli brought justice to victims of violent and organized crime, identity theft, bank fraud, securities fraud and other white-collar crimes.

Notably, Mr. Essayli was part of the team of federal prosecutors that responded to the terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in December 2015. He also obtained a conviction in August 2015 at the conclusion of a three-week criminal trial of a Santa Barbara doctor charged with unlawfully prescribing opiates, which resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen patients.

For two years prior to first joining the office, Mr. Essayli served as a deputy district attorney in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Mr. Essayli was an associate attorney at the law firm of Paul Hastings LLP, focusing on employment law.

Mr. Essayli is the son of Lebanese immigrants and a graduate of Centennial High School in Corona. He was the first in his family to graduate college, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Kellogg Honors College of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He received his juris doctorate from Chapman University School of Law.