Judge blocks – A judge rejected L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s bid to freeze a $4-billion sex abuse settlement, with the court questioning whether a prosecutor can override decisions made by five elected supervisors. The first $600 million tranche is set for
For a moment on Thursday, the courtroom question wasn’t about money or fraud. It was about who gets to decide what happens next.
L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman asked Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff to halt a historic $4-billion sex abuse payout for six months. Hochman said his office found “fraud indicators” suggesting as many as 4 out of 5 of the claims were false. But after a hearing in Superior Court, Riff denied the request, effectively keeping the settlement on track.
“It doesn’t change our investigation at all,” Hochman said after the ruling from Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff. “But it will make more difficult … getting that money back from the fraudsters. That’s what we were trying to prevent today and, unfortunately, the judge did not agree with us.”
The decision lands as the first tranche of the payout—roughly $600 million—is scheduled to be disbursed to victims in the next week.
Riff’s reasoning turned on a basic question of authority: Hochman was trying to stop an agreement that had already been approved by the county’s elected leadership. The judge pressed Hochman on what legal grounds would allow a prosecutor to usurp decisions made by the five supervisors who green-lit the deal.
“We have an elected official, you … and we have five supervisors who have likewise been elected by the people and put in responsible position, and you disagree on what happens next,” Riff told Hochman. “This happens in politics all the time.”
Hochman’s move came earlier this month. after he began investigating the settlement last fall following findings from Times investigations involving nine plaintiffs who said they were paid by recruiters to sue over sexual abuse. including some who later withdrew claims. Hochman’s office has described the probe as sprawling and directed at the lawyers. doctors. and plaintiffs it alleges lie behind the wave of litigation tied to county-run settings.
The settlement itself was approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in April 2025 to resolve more than 10. 000 claims of sexual abuse stemming from county-run juvenile halls. foster homes. and a children’s shelter. The flood of cases followed a change in the state statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. giving victims a new window to sue.
County attorneys have long argued the $4-billion settlement was a practical path forward. saying trial would be financially ruinous for the county. Yet they have. at least publicly. avoided taking a firm position on Hochman’s freeze request—choosing not to derail an agreement county officials say they want “over and done with.”.
On Thursday, Riff pushed Hochman on whether he had brought his concerns to the supervisors and their top counsel early enough.
“Why did you not pick up the phone and call [County Counsel] Dawyn Harrison and say, ‘Ms. Harrison, there is widespread fraud occurring in the settlement. You’ve got to stop this thing’?” Riff asked.
Hochman said he did warn the county.
“And yet they proceed,” Hochman said. “They are turning their district attorney’s picture to the wall.”
Inside the dispute is a fight over what the fraud allegations actually prove.
Attorneys for plaintiffs say Hochman is overstating the level of fraud and relying on databases they describe as unreliable for determining whether people were incarcerated in county custody as juveniles. Brian Perkins, an attorney representing multiple victims, argued that the data problems cannot be equated with deception.
“We’re here on what I would call a hunch or, at best, a suspicion,” Perkins said. “The presence or absence of a hit in database searches does not equate to fraud.”
Hochman’s office, for its part, has claimed in court filings that prosecutors have access to older records of juvenile delinquency proceedings that are not available to other parties vetting settlement claims—people Hochman’s office says include multiple judges and members of the State Bar.
“We’re potentially talking about thousands of fraudulent lawsuits,” Hochman’s office claimed in the filings. “I’ve never seen it before.”
The timing of the judge’s decision is now central. With the first payout tranche expected within the next week. victims will receive money even as Hochman’s criminal investigation continues—leaving a question that sat at the heart of Thursday’s hearing: if fraud is later found. what will be possible to take back. and who will be blamed for the delay.
For now, Riff’s ruling means Hochman’s request to freeze the settlement is denied, and the historic agreement approved by the county’s five supervisors moves forward—despite Hochman’s argument that fraud indicators were serious enough to pause everything for six months.
Nathan Hochman Lawrence Riff L.A. County sex abuse settlement fraud probe Board of Supervisors juvenile halls foster homes Dawyn Harrison Brian Perkins