Dale Susan Fischer (born October 17, 1951) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, ...

. She was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, and received her commission in 2003.

Early life and education

Born in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, Fischer received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

in 1977, and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1980.

Private practice

Fischer was in private practice in California for 17 years, from 1980 to 1997, during which she also volunteer briefly for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. She practiced as a business litigator at the law firms

Heller Ehrman Heller Ehrman LLP was an international law firm of more than 730 attorneys in 15 offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Heller Ehrman was founded in San Francisco in 1890 and had additional offices located in most of the major finan ...

and Kindel & Anderson.

Judicial career

Los Angeles judge

Fischer was a judge on the Los Angeles

Municipal Court City court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases ...

from 1997 to 2000, hearing criminal cases. She was then a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, hearing criminal cases from 2000 to 2003.

Federal judge

2003-19

On May 1, 2003, Fischer was nominated by President

to a new seat on the

created by 116 Stat. 1758. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on October 27, 2003, and received her commission on November 5, 2003. In 2008, she oversaw the case of private investigator

Anthony Pellicano Anthony Pellicano (born March 22, 1944) is a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator and convicted criminal known as a Hollywood fixer. He served a term of thirty months in a federal prison for illegal possession of explosives, fire ...

. Fischer sentenced Pellicano to 15 years in prison for running an illegal

wiretapping Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

operation, wiretapping billionaire

Kirk Kerkorian Kerkor Kerkorian ( hy, Գրիգոր Գրիգորեան; June 6, 1917 – June 15, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the president and CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beve ...

's former wife. The sentence significantly exceeded the five-year, 10-month term recommended by probation officials. In 2010, Fischer sentenced Emmanuel Onwuzulike to 14 years in federal prison for committing

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...

. He had swindled three people out of $400,000.

2020-present

In 2021, Fischer sentenced Patrick Joseph Soria of West Hollywood to over 12 years in federal prison for engaging in a $7.6 million fraud scheme. In 2022 Fischer sentenced David Joseph Bunevacz to over 17 years in federal prison for fraudulently raising more than $45 million from investors. He was also ordered to pay over $35 million in restitution. In 2023 the criminal

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in lo ...

case of

Terren Peizer Terren Scott Peizer, is an investor and company executive. He is the CEO of Acuitas Group Holdings and Neurmedix. He is also the CEO and chairman of Ontrak. He has held senior executive positions within technology and biotech companies, at Goldma ...

, the CEO and chairman of publicly traded healthcare company Ontrak, was assigned to Fischer. After Peizer was charged with insider trading by the SEC, which alleged that he sold $20 million of Ontrak stock while he was in possession of material nonpublic negative information related to the company’s largest customer, the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

announced

criminal charge A criminal charge is a formal accusation made by a governmental authority (usually a public prosecutor or the police) asserting that somebody has committed a crime. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can ...

s of securities fraud against Peizer, charging that thereby he had avoided $12 million in losses. If convicted, Peizer could face up to 65 years in prison.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Dale Susan 1951 births Living people 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges California lawyers California state court judges Harvard Law School alumni New Jersey lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California People from Orange, New Jersey Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush University of South Florida alumni