The NAFUSA Board of Directors and Officers met in Austin, Texas on Saturday, October 29, 2022, for its fall meeting. The meeting was hosted by the law firm of Holland and Knight in their beautiful offices overlooking the Colorado River. The firm generously provided breakfast and the services of two of their talented staff members for technical and administrative support. The Board meeting was extremely productive, as well as a great opportunity for Board members to interact and exchange ideas.

NAFUSA President Chuck Stevens welcomed the Board members and guests who attended the meeting in Austin, at their own expense, as well as the members who were able to join via zoom. President Stevens led a discussion of the program for the 2023 annual conference in Half Moon Bay next March. Board members who have volunteered to moderate panels of invited speakers at the conference presented overviews of their topics and proposed speakers. In addition to what promises to be an outstanding conference program, and the beautiful hotel accommodations and golf facilities at Half Moon Bay, the 2023 conference will provide many social opportunities to mix and mingle with fellow NAFUSA members and guests.

Board members were happy to learn that NAFUSA sponsor Guidepost Solutions will again sponsor the very popular Wednesday Night Welcome Reception. As always, NAFUSA relies on the generous support of sponsors for its annual conferences. The Board discussed the importance of recruiting and maintaining sponsorships and were provided with the list of 2023 conference sponsors to date.

New Executive Director Wendy Goggin presented a Conflict-of-Interest Policy for NAFUSA, which was adopted by the Board. She also went over financial reports including an analysis of 2022 conference expenses and income, current statements of NAFUSA’s Financial Position and Statement of Activity, and year to date operating budget. Treasurer Tim Purdon discussed NAFUSA’s financial position going forward and presented the recommendations of the newly formed Finance Committee, which he chairs.

Finally, President-elect John Richter led a discussion of logistics for the 2024 Conference. Board members overwhelmingly supported returning the Conference to its traditional fall time frame. Planning for the 2024 Conference, to be held in the fall of 2024, is underway.

Thanks to Board member and proud Austin resident, Johnny Sutton, for acting as tour guide and entertainment for the Board’s stay in Austin. The meeting and time spent in Austin were productive and fun and a great opportunity to interact with fellow board members.

NAFUSA member Harry S. (Sandy) Mattice, Jr., who stepped down from the federal bench in East Tennessee in March 2021, announced the opening of The Mattice Group, a law firm with offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which he will head. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in November 2005, Sandy served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee from October 2001 to November 2005.

Lifetime NAFUSA member John Brownlee and members of his prosecution team are depicted in the Emmy award-winning Hulu miniseries Dopesick for their investigation and prosecution of Purdue Pharma in 2007 for the misleading branding of the opioid OxyContin, an addictive pain killing medication. The miniseries explores the beginning of the opioid crisis and its development through the Grand Jury investigation led by John and two AUSAs in his office from the perspective of Purdue Pharma, the company that aggressively marketed OxyContin, the lawyers and government officials who investigated the misleading branding of the drug, and the doctors and patients impacted.

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty again in 2021 to criminal charges brought by the Department of Justice related to defrauding federal health agencies and violating anti-kickback laws. A six billion dollar civil settlement was reached earlier this year in a case brought against Purdue Pharma by 23 state Attorneys General and roughly 2000 local governments.

John served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia under George W. Bush from 2001-2008.

Lifetime NAFUSA member Steve Dettelbach was sworn in as the new Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on July 13, 2022, by President Joe Biden. Dettelbach was nominated by President Biden on April 22, 2022 and was ultimately confirmed by the Senate on July 12. He is the second-ever Senate-confirmed ATF Director, the first being Todd Jones, who left ATF in 2015. Jones had previously served as United States Attorney for Minnesota under both Presidents Clinton and Obama.

Dettelbach served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio
under the Obama Administration from 2009 to 2016. He left that position in 2016 to
return to BakerHofstetler where he served as co-leader of that firm’s White Collar,
Investigations and Securities Enforcement and Litigation Team.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Dettelbach vowed he would not be
influenced by political considerations and promised to uphold the law free from
political interference. In a statement following the confirmation, Attorney General
Merrick B. Garland praised Dettelbach, saying “Steve understands the importance and
urgency of ATF’s mission, and I am confident he will lead ATF with integrity,
dedication, and skill.”

At Dettelbach’s investiture on July 19, the Attorney General referenced the
celebration of ATF’s 50th anniversary founding as an independent agency in June. He
remarked that the ATF’s mission has never been more urgent than it is today. He
praised Dettelbach and thanked him for coming back to the Justice Department and
said that as a career prosecutor and former United States Attorney, “…Steve
understands the importance of ATF’s mission to protect our communities from
violent crime and the scourge of gun violence.

The Supreme Court in June ruled 5-4 that the State of Oklahoma can
prosecute non-Native Americans in Indian Country, clawing back part of
its 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma which limited the state’s
jurisdiction in land governed by federal treaties. The McGirt decision
reasoned that the Creek Nation’s reservation in Oklahoma had never
been properly de-established, thus the eastern part of Oklahoma,
including Tulsa, was recognized as Indian Country with exclusive
Federal and Tribal jurisdiction. The Court’s ruling in McGirt’s most
notable consequence was criminal cases being transferred from state
courts to Federal and tribal venues which had exclusive jurisdiction to
prosecute crimes committed by or against an Indian in Indian Country.
The decision greatly increased the criminal caseloads in impacted U.S.
Attorney Offices.

The Court’s latest ruling, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, took a limited
view of sovereignty of tribes in 21st century America, discounting the
significance of 19th century treaties, and asserted that “Indian country is
part of the State” not separate from it. The opinion, written by Justice
Kavanaugh, reasoned that, as a result, the state retains jurisdiction
there unless Congress expressly suspended it, and held that the Federal
Government and the State of Oklahoma have concurrent jurisdiction to
prosecute crimes committed by a non-Indian against an Indian in Indian Country.

NAFUSA lifetime member John Wood on Wednesday launched his campaign in Missouri for U.S. Senator, running as an Independent to the field of Democratic and Republican candidates. Wood, who served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri from 2007 to 2009 and served in several senior level positions during the Bush Administration, was named Senior Investigative Counsel for the House January 6th Select Committee in September 2021. He resigned as the lead investigator for the Committee last week before launching his bid to run for the U.S. Senate.

Wood graduated from Harvard Law School and was the articles chair of the Harvard Law Review. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was named chief legal officer and general counsel to the U.S .Chamber of Commerce in May 2018. Wood is married to Julie Myers Wood, the C.E.O. of NAFUSA sponsor Guidepost Solutions.

To qualify for the November 8 ballot in the race for retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blount’s seat, he must submit 10,000 signatures to the Missouri secretary of state’s office by August 1.

Pursuant to our bylaws the NAFUSA board has elected lifetime member and current secretary John Richter as president elect to replace Ken Wainstein.

Richter served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, 2005-2009, and the acting assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2009, he received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General’s Award for Combating Medicare and Medicaid Fraud.

Richter also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia and Oklahoma, where he investigated and prosecuted white collar and public corruption cases. He also served as an assistant district attorney in Georgia. While at King & Spalding’s Atlanta office from 1994 to 1998, Richter represented individual and institutional clients in securities and other commercial litigation matters. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

He is currently a partner at King & Spalding.

Lifetime member Catherine Hanaway has been elected as secretary of NAFUSA.  Catherine is the chair of the Husch Blackwell firm based in St. Louis.  Catherine was US Attorney in the ED of Missouri and Speaker of Missouri’s House of Representatives.

Hanaway has led Husch Blackwell litigation teams on some of the most sensitive and commercially significant matters handled by the firm, including criminal and civil investigations, complex commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement actions. As U.S. Attorney, she supervised more than 4,000 criminal, affirmative and defensive civil cases and personally tried cases to jury verdicts. She also supervised and assisted in the development of cutting-edge theories of criminal prosecution.

Hanaway holds a B.A. from Creighton University and received a J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.

Erin Nealy Cox will replace Catherine Hanaway as a board member in the class of 2025.  Cox was the United States Attorney for the ND of Texas as served as the chair of the AGAC.  Cox, then chair of the AGAC, participated in the NAFUSA webinar which was held in October 2020.  Cox is now a partner in Kirkland & Ellis.

Cox received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and her B.B.A. in finance from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Texas and New York Bar Associations.