LA District Attorney Says Up to 80% of Claims in Nation’s Largest Sexual Abuse Settlement May Be Fraudulent

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has asked a judge to halt payouts tied to a $4 billion sexual abuse settlement, arguing that as many as four out of every five claims may be fraudulent, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In April 2025, the county agreed to the $4 billion deal to resolve more than 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse involving county-operated juvenile detention centers and foster care facilities. The agreement was described as the largest sexual abuse settlement ever reached in the United States.

However, a Los Angeles Times investigation later identified nine plaintiffs who said they had been paid by recruiters to sign on to the class-action case. Of those, four told the newspaper their claims were completely fabricated.

Hochman opened his own investigation soon after the Times published its findings.

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At a November 2025 news conference, Hochman accused bad actors of exploiting compensation meant for legitimate victims. “They looked at this opportunity to compensate these true victims of sex abuse as an opportunity to personally profit and engage in some of the most greedy and heinous conduct,” he said. “We are going to aggressively go after them.”

However, Hochman said then that the nine who came forward represented a small fraction of the “significant number of fraudsters involved in these settlement claims.”

Now, Hochman is claiming 80% of claimants could be fraudulent while asking the judge overseeing the case to freeze the payments for six months while he continues his investigation, according to the LA Times.

Hochman’s request would only apply to cases stemming from juvenile halls, the bulk of the cases in the lawsuit, according to the LA Times.

Since the LA Times released the results of its investigation, LA County has imposed extra scrutiny on claimants, particularly those represented by Downtown LA Law Group (DTLA), a firm that represented all nine of the plaintiffs who reportedly claimed to have been recruited.

DTLA firmly denied recruiting anybody for the lawsuit.

“As we have consistently stated, DTLA never recruited anyone to join this lawsuit. In fact, we rejected over 70% of the cases that came to us. The allegations of fraud involving our firm are false,” a DTLA spokesperson told News Agency.

The company also believes it’s being unfairly scrutinized compared to other companies representing plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“DTLA was the only one subjected to an extensive independent third-party audit of more than 1,000 cases, with every client interviewed by a neutral auditor at our own expense. No other firm has undergone this level of scrutiny.  We believe that fairness dictates that the regulatory agency make similar demands of other firms,” the spokesperson said.

The increased scrutiny, Hochman argued in a Wednesday filing obtained by the LA Times, was necessary after lax vetting from prior agencies reviewing the cases.

“The prior and ongoing vetting by other agencies and entities has been insufficient to determine whether the claims are fraudulent,” Hochman stated, per the LA Times.

Representatives of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit question Hochman’s claims and say they further hurt victims who have suffered enough.

“They’re beyond frustrated,” victim attorney Patrick McNicholas told the LA Times. “Once again, they’re getting victimized,” he said.

Nathan Hochman speaks to reporters in Los Angeles in 2017 while running for California attorney general. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are expected to go in front of Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff on Monday for a review of Hochman’s request.

The DTLA spokesperson told News Agency the company has cooperated with DA Hochman’s investigation.

“We look forward to Judge Lawrence Riff’s ruling on this matter and, as we have always maintained, we remain fully committed to working cooperatively with District Attorney Nathan Hochman and his office to verify the authenticity of every claim,” the spokesperson said.

“Our firm is fully committed to ensuring that clients who suffered real abuse are fairly compensated for the trauma they endured,” the spokesperson also said.

News Agency contacted the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for further information.