McGregor William "Greg" Scott (born 1962) is an American lawyer and partner at the

King & Spalding King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is an A ...

law firm. He served as the

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Eastern District of California from 2017 to 2021. He was sworn in as a court-appointed U.S. attorney on December 29, 2017, after previously serving in the position from 2003 to 2009 during the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...

. Prior to assuming his current role, Scott was a partner in the

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

office of

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Orrick is a global law firm focusing on serving the technology & innovation, energy & infrastructure, finance, and life sciences & healthcare sectors. Founded in San Francisco, California, Orrick today has offices in over 25 worldwide markets His ...

, where his practice focused on

white collar criminal defense The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class indivi ...

and corporate investigations. In 2008, he retired from the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

as a lieutenant colonel after 23 years of service.

Education and early career

Scott received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (a ...

. He served as deputy district attorney in

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

from 1989 to 1997 and the elected

Shasta County Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding. ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

from 1997 to 2003. As district attorney for Shasta County, Scott oversaw the prosecution of brothers Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams, who murdered a gay couple in Redding and set fire to three synagogues and an abortion clinic.

Career

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

In a

trade secrets A trade secret is a form of intellectual property (IP) comprising confidential information that is not generally known or readily ascertainable, derives economic value from its secrecy, and is protected by reasonable efforts to maintain its conf ...

misappropriation case, Scott won a $52.9 million jury verdict against

Patriot Rail Company Patriot Rail Company LLC (Patriot Rail) is a holding company for a number of short-line railroad, shortline railroads across the United States. In June 2012, Patriot Rail was acquired by SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners (SteelRiver). On August ...

on behalf of his client,

Sierra Railroad The Sierra Railroad Corporation is a privately owned common carrier. Its Sierra Northern Railway freight division handles all freight operations for all branches owned by the Sierra Railroad. The company's Mendocino Railway group operates t ...

. He worked ''

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

'' for Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 and rescued from her captor in 2009.

U.S. attorney

In November 2017, Scott was appointed by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to a four-year term as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. He was confirmed by a

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on March 7, 2018. During his previous tenure, Scott's office prosecuted a number of mortgage fraud cases during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, won a $102 million settlement with

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

over allegations that railroad workers sparked a large wildfire, and prosecuted

Hamid and Umer Hayat Hamid Hayat (born September 10, 1982) is a United States citizen of Pakistani descent from Lodi, California. His father, Umer Hayat (born 1957 or 1958), immigrated to the United States from Pakistan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Together, they ...

for allegedly

providing material support for terrorism In United States law, providing material support for terrorism is a crime prohibited by the USA PATRIOT Act and codified in title 18 of the United States Code. Penalties include fines and up to 15 years in prison, per sectio2339A and up to 20 ye ...

and lying about it to the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

. At the time of the $102 million settlement with Union Pacific Railroad, it was the largest civil settlement in the district's history. He subsequently encouraged the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

to create a program to pursue damages against companies that start fires that damage federal forests. Scott also served on an advisory committee that offered counsel to

United States Attorneys General United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...

and

Alberto Gonzales Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States Attorney General from 2005 to 2007 and was the highest-ranking Hispanic American in executive government in American history until the appoin ...

. The editorial board of ''

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

'' endorsed Scott's most recent nomination to become U.S. attorney, writing "Trump could not have found a more qualified chief federal prosecutor for the sprawling district." On February 8, 2021, he along with 55 other Trump-era

s were asked to resign. On February 10, 2021, Scott announced his resignation, effective February 28.

King & Spalding

In June 2021, Scott joined international law firm

as a partner working out of the Sacramento and San Francisco offices.

Fraud special counsel

On July 20, 2021,

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, th ...

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

, the

Employment Development Department In California, the Employment Development Department (EDD) is a department of the state government of California, government that administers Unemployment Insurance (UI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs. The depar ...

(EDD) and the Governor's Office of Emergency Services Fraud Task Force appointed Scott as "fraud special counsel" to investigate unemployment fraud against the EDD during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

Interview with Scott on ''Frontline''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, McGregor William 1962 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers California lawyers California Republicans Military personnel from California National Guard (United States) officers District attorneys in California Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe people People from Mountain View, California Santa Clara University alumni United States Army officers United States attorneys for the Eastern District of California University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni