Los Angeles DEA Defense Lawyers

Los Angeles DEA Defense Lawyers

DEA agents are at your medical practice in Los Angeles requesting “voluntary surrender” of your controlled substance registration. Or you’re sitting in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center facing decades in prison for drug trafficking charges. Or you just received an Order to Show Cause from the Drug Enforcement Administration threatening revocation of your medical license – and with it, your entire career. You’re terrified, and you should be, because what happens in the next 72 hours will determine whether you keep your livelihood or lose everything. Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second generation law firm with over 50 years of combined experience. Our managing partner, Todd Spodek, has many, many, years of experience handling federal cases covered by NY Post, Newsweek, Fox 5, and other national outlets – including Anna Delvey and juror misconduct allegations in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. Here’s what you need to know about DEA defense in Los Angeles.

What Happens in the Next 72 Hours

If you’re facing a DEA audit right now, here’s what’s actually happening – and it’s critical you understand this. DEA agents are searching your controlled substance records for discrepancies, and they’re trained to pressure you into signing a “voluntary surrender” form on the spot. They’ll tell you “cooperate now and it will be easier,” but here’s the reality – everything they’re telling you can be used for permanent registration revocation and criminal prosecution under 21 U.S.C. § 841. Your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination exists precisely for this moment, when government pressure is at its highest.

If you’ve been arrested in a federal drug investigation in Los Angeles, the next 72 hours look completely different from a state arrest. You’re not going to LA County Jail – you’re going to federal detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. Within 48 hours, you’ll appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for a bail hearing under the Federal Bail Reform Act, which is much, much harder to satisfy than California state bail. The U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Central District of California will be prosecuting your case – not the LA County District Attorney – and federal prosecutors follow completely different rules and operate under mandatory federal sentencing guidelines.

If you received a DEA Order to Show Cause under 21 C.F.R. § 1301.36, your registration is suspended during the 12 to 18 month administrative hearing process. What that means is you cannot prescribe controlled substances starting immediately, and your state medical board receives notice. At Spodek Law Group – we understand that losing your ability to prescribe means you cannot practice medicine, your hospital privileges will be suspended, and your employment will likely be terminated. The income you depend on? It stops completely, and this is exactly what the DEA knows will pressure you into signing that voluntary surrender form without fighting.

Your Choices

Here’s where you need to understand the difference between your options – because the DEA agents standing in your office or the federal prosecutor offering a “cooperation agreement” won’t explain this honestly. If you sign a voluntary surrender of your DEA registration, you lose everything immediately – your registration is gone with no hearing, no appeal process, and no chance to present evidence. You waive your Constitutional due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee you the right to a hearing before the government can take away your livelihood. Your state medical board receives notice within days and initiates suspension proceedings. When you try to get your registration back – and many, many practitioners find themselves in this position years later – you have to wait a minimum of 2 to 5 years before you can even apply for reinstatement, and here’s what the DEA won’t tell you: reinstatement is completely discretionary under 21 C.F.R. § 1301. The DEA can deny your application for any reason, and they frequently do.

Now let’s talk about what happens if you fight instead. When you challenge an Order to Show Cause and request an administrative hearing, you keep your DEA registration throughout the entire 12 to 18 month process – which means you keep practicing, you keep your income flowing, and you maintain your hospital privileges. You have the right to present evidence before an Administrative Law Judge, challenge the DEA’s case (they have the burden of proof by preponderance of the evidence), and cross-examine their witnesses. If the ALJ rules against you, you can appeal to the DEA Administrator, and if that fails, you can appeal to the United States Court of Appeals. Unlike other law firms who are more focused on their relationship with prosecutors and judges, Spodek Law Group owes loyalty to only YOU – we fight to protect your Constitutional right to due process.

The third option the DEA will pressure you to take is “cooperation” – which sounds reasonable until you understand what it actually means. Cooperation usually requires you to waive your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, sign written statements admitting to violations, and potentially become a confidential informant against colleagues or patients. There’s no guarantee of leniency – the DEA wants convictions regardless of whether you cooperate. At Spodek Law Group, we don’t recommend cooperation without an ironclad written immunity agreement, because anything less means you’re giving the government ammunition to use against you.

Why Los Angeles Federal Cases Are Different

Los Angeles is designated as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area under the HIDTA program – which means even if you didn’t transport drugs across state lines, your case can still be prosecuted federally. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California has jurisdiction over Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, and they work with multi-agency task forces that include DEA, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, LAPD, and LA County Sheriff’s narcotics divisions.

Here’s what that means in practical terms. If you’re convicted of drug trafficking under 21 U.S.C. § 841 and the amount of controlled substances meets threshold quantities, you’re facing a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison for a first offense. If you have a prior felony drug conviction, that mandatory minimum jumps to 20 years. If your offense resulted in serious bodily injury or death, or if you have two or more prior felony drug convictions, you’re looking at a mandatory life sentence. Federal judges in the Central District of California have no discretion to reduce these sentences below the mandatory minimums – this is the administrative state at work, where legislatively-imposed sentencing rules override judicial judgment. You serve 85% of your federal sentence with no possibility of parole.

For healthcare providers in Los Angeles, the DEA specifically targets what they call “pill mills” and drug diversion schemes because of the large population of physicians, pharmacists, and dentists practicing here. Regardless of whether you’re a solo practitioner in Beverly Hills or part of a large medical group in downtown LA – if the DEA believes you’re prescribing controlled substances outside the scope of legitimate medical practice, they will investigate you, and they will use every tool at their disposal to revoke your registration and pursue criminal charges.

Don’t sign anything DEA agents give you without having an experienced federal defense attorney review it first – especially those “voluntary surrender” forms. When DEA agents or federal prosecutors ask you questions, invoke your right to counsel immediately by saying “I want to speak with my attorney before answering any questions,” and then stop talking. Your Fifth Amendment protection is meaningless if you waive it by trying to “explain” your situation to investigators building a case against you. Don’t delay getting legal representation – federal investigations move fast, immediate suspension orders can be issued within 24 hours, and bail hearings happen within 48 hours of arrest.

At Spodek Law Group – we understand that you’re scared right now, and that’s completely normal when you’re facing the loss of your medical career or decades in federal prison. We are available 24/7 for a risk-free consultation, regardless of whether you’re a healthcare provider facing DEA registration revocation or someone charged with federal drug trafficking in Los Angeles. Our team has experience handling DEA administrative proceedings, federal criminal trials, and appeals in the Ninth Circuit. We know how to challenge illegal searches under the Fourth Amendment, suppress evidence obtained in violation of your Constitutional rights, and fight for you at every stage. Call us at 212-300-5196.