Attorney General Eric Holder honored former Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Elias with the Justice Department’s second highest award for employee service for his work that led to the unprecedented $13 billion civil settlement with J.P. Morgan. It was the largest settlement with a single entity in American history.

The Department of Justice commended AUSA Richard Elias for the integral role he played in achieving the largest-ever recovery by the United States for destruction of federal public land by fire. Rich’s work on the “Moonlight Fire Case” led to a settlement valued at $122.5 million.

Richard Elias was honored as one of California’s 2012 Attorneys of the Year by a leading California law journal. The Recorder profiled his work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in a special section of the publication’s March 25, 2013 edition.