LA County DA says four out of five $4 billion sexual assault lawsuits may be fraudulent

Los Angeles County’s district attorney says he believes four out of five claims in the largest sexual assault settlement in American history may be false — a claim that defies earlier speculation about the scale of fraud among the $4 billion settlement.

The district. He said. Nathan Hochman has asked the judge handling dozens of sexual assault cases to suspend payments for six months while he continues his ongoing criminal investigation into the plaintiffs, attorneys and therapists handling the claims.

He says that distributing the money now will interfere with his investigation by “making it difficult for witnesses to cooperate.” [and] which hides financial means.”

The county agreed in April 2025 to pay $4 billion to settle more than 11,000 sexual abuse claims from county-run juvenile halls, foster homes and a notorious juvenile shelter. The lawsuits, many of which date back decades, came after California changed its statute of limitations to give victims of child sexual abuse a new window to sue.

Seven months after the payout was announced, the DA’s office opened an investigation, prompted by allegations that some of the plaintiffs fabricated stories of abuse and were never arrested. Times investigation found nine people who claim they were paid small sums by employers to sue the county for sexual abuse in juvenile halls. Four of them said they lied.

Hochman’s suspension, if approved, would only apply to abuse cases from juvenile halls, which make up the bulk of cases, not cases from foster care or child shelters. Lawyers in this case are expected to go before High Court Judge Lawrence Riff on Monday to hear the request.

The DA’s request on Wednesday for another six-month delay has created tension among the victims, who expected to receive their payments earlier this year and are fed up with repeated delays. Some have taken out high-interest loans against their expenses, which eat up a large portion of their paychecks with each passing year.

The appalling abuse they suffered at the hands of county staff, they worry, has now replaced a circus of alleged fraud.

“They’re very frustrated,” said attorney Patrick McNicholas, whose firm represents about 1,000 clients. “Once again, they are being abused.”

He noted that the payments are spread over five years, which he said will give prosecutors enough time to conduct investigations without worrying that billions will be given to fraudsters.

The claim that more than 80% of the more than 11,000 abuse claims could be a scam has raised doubts among some victims and advocates, who say the number far exceeds anyone’s expectations. Hochman did not explain in his court filing how he arrived at that figure.

“I’d like to know where these numbers are coming from,” said Karlina Howard, who sued the county over abuse she suffered as a child at Maclaren Hall, a children’s facility now notorious for predatory workers.

Howard said that since the allegations of fraud have surfaced, many victims have been forced by district attorneys to substantiate their allegations of abuse. But they say the lack of records in decades-old cases combined with the fact that they were children at the time of the abuse made it an impossible task, putting the real victims at risk of being called frauds.

“Who was I supposed to tell? “We are scared, we are children, and we are in a facility that looks like a prison.”

Since revelations that some plaintiffs were paid to file lawsuits, the district has strengthened its claims review process, appointed former presiding judge of the state Supreme Court to review the cases by the Downtown LA Law Group, one of the largest firms involved in these cases. The law firm represents all nine clients The Times spoke with who said they were paid to sue the county.

The Downtown LA Law Group, or DTLA, has vehemently denied paying any of its clients to sue. Company too under investigation by the State Bar, which is pushing to bring its approximately 2,700 plaintiffs into the sexual harassment settlement.

But Hochman stated in his court that he does not believe that there is an ongoing investigation compared to what his office can accomplish.

“Previous and ongoing checks by other agencies and organizations are not enough to determine if the claims are fake,” he said.