Wong Yang was heading up the investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis’s (R-Calif.) ties to a lobbying firm and the millions of dollars in contracts the firm’s clients received from Congress. Wong Yang, the first Asian-American woman to serve as a U.S. attorney, left her post with Justice to become a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, the law firm representing Lewis. She will co-chair the firm’s crisis-management practice group, along with Washington, D.C., partner Theodore B. Olson, a former Bush administration solicitor general.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/yang-denies-departure-is-linked-to-that-of-other-u.s.-attorneys-2007-03-05.htmlAbout five months before Yang's departure, her office had opened an investigation into ties between Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and a lobbyist. Gibson Dunn, the firm that hired her, is also the firm where Lewis' legal team works, but government rules required that she step aside in that case or any other she was involved with while a government prosecutor.
The Lewis case is connected to the corruption investigation in San Diego that began with the 2005 conviction of former GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is serving jail time for bribery. Former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego, who was among those dismissed last year, was prosecuting that case. Feinstein contends that Lam's dismissal had something to do with the her role in the Cunningham investigation, though the Justice Department denies it. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070321/D8O07EA80.htmlThanks to maddezmom for the above links from LBN
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2774840From my research on Sunday March 18, 2007
The appointment elevated Yang over many older, mostly white males with more experience and weightier credentials and raised charges of race and gender politics. Yang responded with sheer output.
During her first year in office her staff filed 483 cases of business fraud, for the first time surpassing the historically busier New York office. That boosted morale and won Yang credit for stemming an outflow of experienced trial lawyers to lucrative jobs in private practice.
Today Debra Yang has risen high enough to become a bright star in the Justice Department and in Republican political circles.During her seven years on Spring Street Debra Yang made enough of a name as a trial lawyer to win appointment to the Los Angeles Municipal Court. When the court system was unified in 2000 Debra Yang found herself, at 40, the youngest Superior Court judge in Santa Monica.
Two years later when the Bush White House was casting for a Republican star with sterling credentials and diversity points, Debra Yang rose to the top of every list. She won Senate confirmation and began her term as U.S. Attorney on May 18, 2002. GS: Does Judge Takasugi's liberal views have an adverse impact on your office's conviction rate? DY: I don't think there's a direct correlation. I actually know Judge Takasugi. He's sort of a family friend and somebody I've sought out in the past for mentoring. While we have different political affiliations...
GS: You're a Republican.DY: Yes. ... I think there are certain things we have overlap on. I appreciate the sensitivity to certain issues, but he's just one judge in a courthouse of many judges. GS: You're credited with a big increase in white-collar crime filings since becoming U.S. Attorney. What types of white-collar crimes do you focus on?DY: After the bubble burst, there was a definite focus on accounting-manipulation fraud and stock-manipulation fraud and fraud in the reporting of earnings. Corporations restated their earnings or made various misrepresentations to the SEC with respect to their earnings or made misrepresentations in their initial public offerings. These are some of the cases we've looked at. I've worked very closely with the SEC here to try to forge a much closer relationship so we can share and leverage resources when appropriate. That's one of the reasons we've been able to increase the number of cases and number of defendants in the white-collar arena. GS: So your focus is on public corporations as opposed to mom-and pops? DY: Larger dollar volume cases.
I actually chair the civil rights subcommittee for the Attorney General. That's the national chair. I also sit on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee which is a big deal because there are only about twelve U.S. Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on things we should be covering nationally.GS: This is something to which you were appointed in 2003? DY: Yes, that's right. And I also sit on President Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force. That's with other cabinet members and takes up a lot of time as far as trying to figure out national policy. I just got appointed to a new one. The Attorney General has an Intellectual Property Task Force on how we're going to combat computer crime, copyright infringement and things in the cyber arena. So I spent some time on the phone talking to people in different studios about trying to set up a meeting about how to define the issue. Then I came back in and had meetings with people in my office because yesterday James J. Smith from the FBI pled guilty. That entails a number of things going on, so I had some substantive meetings with my staff about that. Then I had some meetings with my staff about a few other cases they needed some decisions or had to run something by me. Then I spent about an hour of quiet time. I have been working on trying to increase the number of environmental prosecutions. GS: You're talking about major corporations or maybe terrorist organizations or that type of thing? DY: Major public corruption figures, major espionage cases. GS: Does your term coincide with the term of the President? DY: That's right. It's a presidential appointment with confirmation by the Senate so I serve at the behest of the President. GS: So if George Bush doesn't get reelected you stand a chance of being replaced? DY: I will be replaced. It's never been any different.
GS: What was the firm in Santa Monica?
DY: Haight Dickson Brown & Bonesteel.
GS: You went there because you wanted to try cases?
DY: No, that was just my first firm. I went there because they were going to pay me lots of money and they were a block or two blocks away from the ocean.
GS: When did you work there?
DY: I went there as a summer clerk in 1984, went back as an associate in 1985 and left in 1987.
And as a BONUS........
Editor's Note - Additional quote from
John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington:
“Debra Wong Yang will be missed by her colleagues across the United States. As U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, she earned a reputation as a bright, dedicated and above all collegial prosecutor,” said John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. “We worked on collaborative issues and problems that extended far beyond the Los Angeles region. We wish her well in her new endeavors.”
I put a box around the part of the interview where Deb's main focus in life is making LOTS of MONEY....
MORE HERE:
http://goldsea.com/Personalities/Yangdebra/yangdebra.ht... 
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