Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has asserted that four out of five claims in the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history may be fraudulent, a claim that far exceeds previous estimates of fraud within the $4 billion payout.
Hochman has requested that the judge overseeing the majority of the sex abuse cases impose a six-month pause on payments while his office conducts a sweeping criminal investigation into the plaintiffs, lawyers, and therapists involved. He argues that distributing the money now would hinder the investigation by complicating witness cooperation and obscuring financial trails.
The county agreed in April 2025 to pay $4 billion to settle over 11,000 claims of sexual abuse that occurred in county-run juvenile halls, foster homes, and a notorious children's shelter. Many of these claims date back decades and were made possible after California extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse victims.
Seven months after the settlement was announced, the DA's office launched an investigation following allegations that some plaintiffs fabricated stories of abuse and were never in county custody. Times investigations revealed nine individuals who claimed they were paid small amounts of cash by recruiters to sue the county for sex abuse in juvenile halls, with four admitting they fabricated the claims.
Hochman's request for a pause, if granted, would only apply to abuse cases stemming from juvenile halls, which constitute the bulk of the lawsuits, and not those from foster care or the children's shelter. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Monday before Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff.
The DA's request has sparked immediate backlash from victims, who expected to receive their payments earlier this year and are frustrated by repeated delays. Some have taken out high-interest loans against their settlements, which are consuming a larger portion of their payout with each passing year.
They worry that the horrific abuse they suffered at the hands of county employees has been overshadowed by a circus of fraud allegations.
Attorney Patrick McNicholas, who represents approximately 1,000 clients, expressed the victims' frustration, stating, "They're beyond frustrated. Once again, they're getting victimized." He noted that payments are spread over five years, which would give prosecutors ample time to investigate without concern that billions will go to fraudsters.
The claim that over 80% of the more than 11,000 claims could be fraudulent has drawn skepticism from victims and attorneys, who say the number far exceeds what anyone anticipated. Hochman did not explain how he arrived at that figure in his court filing.
Karina Howard, who sued the county over abuse she experienced as a child at Maclaren Hall, questioned the source of the numbers. She said that since the fraud allegations surfaced last fall, many victims have been pressured by the county's lawyers to bolster their claims.
However, the lack of records in decades-old cases and the fact that they were children at the time of the abuse has made this an impossible task, putting real victims at risk of being labeled fraudsters. "Who was I supposed to tell?
This is staff, and then they tell you, 'If you tell anybody, you'll never see your family again,'" she said. "We're scared, we're children, and we're in a facility that looks like a jail."
Since the revelations that some plaintiffs were paid to sue, the county has intensified the vetting process for claims, appointing a former presiding judge of the county's Superior Court to review cases from Downtown LA Law Group, one of the main firms involved. The firm represented all nine clients who told The Times they were paid to sue the county.
Downtown LA Law Group has vehemently denied paying any clients to sue and is under investigation by the State Bar, which is pushing to examine their roughly 2,700 plaintiffs in the sex abuse settlement. Hochman indicated in his court filing that he believes the prior and ongoing vetting by other agencies has been insufficient to determine whether the claims are fraudulent.