The David House Agency is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based international crisis resource agency that helps international travelers facing wrongful imprisonment and other complex legal and political situations abroad. The David House Agency was founded in 2011 by Eric Volz after his own experience of wrongful detainment in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

. In an article about the agency, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' describes it as "a hybrid of international detective work, legal research, political analysis, and diplomatic lobbying." The agency works on all aspects of international detainment cases, including case management, hiring and managing of local counsel, fundraising guidance, strategic communications, private diplomacy and lobbying, and aftercare measures.

High Profile Cases

The agency has been at the center of many high-profile cases overseas. Most recently, the David House Agency worked on the wrongful conviction case of Matthew and Grace Huang, a Los Angeles couple erroneously accused of starving their 8-year-old adopted daughter to death in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

in January 2013. Their conviction was overturned in December 2014, ending a two-year legal saga and lift of a travel ban—enabling the couple to leave Qatar and reunite with their two sons in the US. The agency also aided Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, a 28-year-old former U.S. Marine convicted of spying for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

in Iran, Jason Puracal, an American who was wrongfully imprisoned in

on charges of international drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime, and the three American hikers taken into custody and accused of spying by Iranian border guards while hiking in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

References

External links

David House Agency
Imprisonment and detention International human rights organizations Organizations established in 2011 Prison-related organizations Non-profit organizations based in the United States Legal organizations based in the United States {{business-org-stub