LA County DA Nathan Hochman asks judge to freeze $4 billion sexual abuse settlement payments, claiming four out of five claims could be fraudulent.
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"We are going to aggressively go after them," he said. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman speaks at a press conference in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2025.
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 percent 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"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 Fox News Digital.
The company also believes its being unfairly scrutinized compared to other company's 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.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, at podium, stands next to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Central District U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and other members of law enforcement during a press conference in Los Angeles on May 21, 2026. Representatives of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit question Hochman's claims and say they further hurt victims who have suffered enough. The DTLA spokesperson told Fox News Digital 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.
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