Dan Eckhart is a criminal defense attorney who handles cases throughout the United States. Dan is a former federal prosecutor and special agent with extensive criminal, civil, asset forfeiture, and compliance experience. Dan has defended criminal allegations made by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, District of the Virgin Islands, Western District of Michigan, Eastern District of Michigan and the District of Maryland. Dan is also the owner of Global Asset Allies, which is dedicated to helping victims of domestic and foreign fraud maximize their recovery by collaborating with federal prosecutors and law enforcement.
After graduating from Michigan State University, Dan started his career in San Francisco as a Special Agent with the United States Customs Service. Dan investigated money laundering, narcotics smuggling, money laundering, and customs fraud cases. In 1990, Dan left Customs to attended Memphis State Law School. After graduating from law school, Dan was hired through the United States Department of Justice’s Honors Program as an Assistant Regional Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Kansas City. He handled matters involving high-profile inmates including Christopher Boyce (Falcon and the Snowman), Omar Abdel-Rahman (First World Trade Center Bombing), Leonard Peltier (Killing of an FBI agent at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation), Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber), Jonathan Pollard (Israeli spy), Tim McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bombing), and John Gotti (Gambino Crime Family). Dan investigated staff misconduct and various security threat groups including the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia. Dan was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel and assigned to the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Central Florida. One of Dan’s cases, Lopez vs. Davis, was heard by the United States Supreme Court in 2000. Dan was sworn in by Chief Justice Rehnquist and provided litigation assistance to the DOJ Office of Solicitor General.
In 2002, Dan left the Federal Bureau of
Prisons to become an Assistant United States Attorney (federal prosecutor) in
the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division. Dan worked in the civil,
asset forfeiture and criminal divisions during his ten years with the office.
Dan’s forfeiture knowledge helped him successfully prosecute international
money-laundering cases. He traveled to Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Ireland and the
Netherlands to work with prosecutors and agents. He also handled and tried complex
white collar matters including bank fraud, mortgage fraud, money laundering,
tax fraud, FOREX trading, healthcare fraud, bankruptcy fraud and
Ponzi/investment schemes. Dan received recognition from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), the United States Secret Service (USSS), and the Office
of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
In 2013, Dan became a partner at Newsome Melton, an Orlando law firm specializing in products liability, class actions, and federal whistleblower cases. He left Newsome to become General Counsel and Corporate Security Officer for Seaside National Bank & Trust, a private bank in Orlando. In addition to handling the bank’s legal matters, Dan was responsible for cyber-security and fraud investigations and worked closely with the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, and compliance departments.
Dan started his own law firm in 2017. His clients have included lawyers, doctors, police officers, coaches, churches, pharmacists, medical facilities, bankers, small business owners and money service businesses. He has represented persons accused of time share fraud, bribery of government officials, lottery fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, drug smuggling, attempted murder, possession of child pornography, narcotics distribution, attempted murder, contracting fraud, and investment fraud. He successfully defended allegations brought by the NCAA, Florida Department of Financial Services, Florida Department of Health, Homeland Security, FBI, and DEA. In 2018 he had a federal client acquitted by a jury who was accused of obstruction of justice and another federal jury unable to reach a verdict against a client accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Dan has been a speaker for the Association of Certified Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS), Offshore Alert, the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI), the Florida Bankers Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Topics have included cryptocurrency, money laundering, personal and bank liability, cyber-security, white-collar crime, investment fraud, Suspicious Activity Reports and various compliance and Bank Secrecy Act issues. In 2018, Dan spoke in London, Miami, Las Vegas and at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, in Glynco, Georgia. He was also an adjunct law professor at Barry Law School from 2017-2018 teaching Trial Advocacy.
Dan is licensed to practice law in Florida, Missouri, and Kansas. He is also admitted to the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, and the Western District of Michigan. He was one of four attorneys appointed to the Merit Selection Panel for the Middle District of Florida to recommend two new federal magistrate judges in 2018 and 2019. He was recently selected as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers Association.
