David Vaughn

David Vaughn is a Harvard-educated attorney, former federal prosecutor, and institutional investigations leader based in Los Angeles, California. He holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government — with a focus on the management of governmental entities and institutional governance — where he also studied at Harvard Law School, and a J.D. from UC College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). He is open to senior oversight, investigative leadership, and Inspector General roles with public agencies, universities, and corporations. He is regularly recommended by lawyers representing corporations, universities, and institutions to provide independent counsel for individual employees, executives, and former employees in internal and government investigations. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, former Deputy District Attorney, and former Counsel to a United States Congressional subcommittee, Vaughn brings rare prosecutorial, legislative, and institutional experience to complex investigations and oversight. He has won nearly 90% of his career felony jury trials — including fraud, bribery, public corruption, and murder — and won every jury trial he tried as a federal prosecutor. Notable convictions he obtained as a prosecutor include a Presidential appointee who illegally exported nuclear triggers to the Middle East, a U.S. General who accepted kickbacks for government information, and the perpetrators of a $50 million municipal fraud. As Managing Director of Global Risk & Investigations at FTI Consulting, he founded and led the firm's California investigations practice, working on matters including the Madoff and Stanford Ponzi scheme investigations, Toyota Recall, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations for multinational corporations, universities, and government entities. One of the only attorneys in the United States to have defended multiple NCAA Enforcement cases through Committee on Infractions hearings, Vaughn has participated in more than 50 NCAA interviews and conducted over 1,000 witness interviews throughout his career. He has been named a Top Rated White Collar Crimes Attorney in Los Angeles by Super Lawyers every year from 2022 to 2026, and Vaughn Law Offices has been recognized by Best Lawyers in its Best Law Firms rankings for the United States.He has been quoted as a legal expert in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily Journal in connection with federal criminal, white collar, NCAA matters, and investigations.