About The Firm
Dan Eckhart is an Orlando, Florida, attorney who handles criminal and asset forfeiture cases throughout the United States. Dan is a former federal prosecutor and special agent with extensive criminal, and asset forfeiture experience. Dan has defended cases in the Middle, Southern, and Northern Districts of Florida, Southern District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, District of the Virgin Islands, Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan, Southern District of Texas, the Southern District of Iowa and the District of Columbia.
If you need sound legal advice...
Dan Eckhart has a long-standing record of excellence which has earned him a high degree of credibility with judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, and members of the bar throughout the nation.
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Bar Admissions & Education
Education
Michigan State University, (BA) Criminal Justice, 1988
Florida Bar
FL Bar #488674
Federal Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
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Why Hire Dan
Dan Eckhart will personally work on your case and charge you a fee based on his extensive experience in federal court and the complexity of your case.
Unfortunately, not all lawyers work this way.
Instead, they have next to no experience handling federal criminal or asset forfeiture cases and charge high hourly rates leaving you with little or no financial resources midway through the criminal process. Or they will quote you a low fee because they don’t appreciate the work involved with defending a federal case.
They also will charge you for the work of less experienced paralegals or associates. What makes this most troubling is that most criminal defense attorneys have limited or no experience defending criminal cases in federal court. Dan will log onto the federal docket or PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) and provide you with the number of times he has appeared (over 900) versus another lawyer you are considering hiring. While each client is different and past case results will not predict the outcome of your case, experience in federal court matters.
Former Federal Agent
Dan’s success as a criminal defense attorney is attributed to his blue-collar work ethic and experience as a federal prosecutor and federal agent. Dan is the son of a General Motors factory worker and put himself through Michigan State University and Memphis Law School. While attending MSU he drove a Coca-Cola truck, made sandwiches at Arby’s, flattened armor on the Abrams M-1 Battle Tank at Demmer Tool & Die, bagged groceries at a Shop-Rite supermarket, cleaned lanes at the MSU bowling alley, delivered packages for UPS, and worked nights at a gym. He was a paid intern with the Pinellas County Public Defender’s Office while attending classes at the University of South Florida. Thanks to the advice of a criminal justice professor at MSU, Dan applied for a cooperative or “co-op” position with the United States Customs Service in Washington, D.C. While still in college, he worked with Special Agents in the Strategic Enforcement and Financial Intelligence Divisions. This led him to being hired as a Special Agent in San Francisco where he investigated drug smuggling, money laundering, arms trafficking and child pornography cases.
After law school Dan worked as an Assistant Regional Counsel with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Kansas City. In that position he handled cases out of USP Leavenworth, USP Marion, ADX Florence, and others. He distinguished himself by becoming a Special Response Team (SRT) member at the Federal Correctional Center, Coleman, Florida and taught deadly use of force throughout the United States. Dan has 23 years of federal service-6 of those years in positions classified as hazardous duty/law enforcement.
Former Federal Prosecutor
Dan Eckhart spent the last 10 years of his 23-year government career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA or federal prosecutor) in the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division. He worked in the Civil, Asset Forfeiture and Criminal Divisions. Dan helped start the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Team for the Orlando Division and specialized in money laundering, investment fraud and complex white-collar prosecutions. Dan traveled to Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Panama for international money laundering investigations and assisted with the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars of criminal proceeds. Dan also prosecuted individuals for drug trafficking, mortgage fraud, conspiracy, securities fraud, child pornography, income tax evasion, sex trafficking, bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, embezzlement, wire and mail fraud, carjacking, firearms offenses, immigration offenses, Medicare fraud, and violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Dan left the U.S. Attorney’s Office to start the False Claims/Qui Tam practice at one of the nation’s premiere products liability firms. Dan then accepted an offer to become General Counsel and Corporate Security Officer for a private bank in Orlando. After nearly three years with the bank, Dan fulfilled his dream of establishing his own criminal defense firm.
Defense Attorney
Dan Eckhart has achieved great success as a defense attorney (See Case Results). He is not afraid to stand up to government agents and prosecutors and take your case to trial. Many so-called “federal defense attorneys” that appear on the first few pages of a Google search have never had a federal trial, handled a federal sentencing hearing or defended a federal case. Dan has had dozens of federal trials and hundreds of federal hearings. According to PACER, the federal court’s nationwide docketing system, Dan has made over 900 appearances in federal court during his career. Since becoming a criminal defense lawyer in 2017, Dan has defended over 125 clients accused of federal crimes. Dan has the expertise and experience in federal court that anyone facing federal charges or defending against asset forfeiture, deserves. If you decide a federal trial is not in your best interest, Dan will work hard to mitigate your sentence. He has successfully helped his clients get the best possible results in dozens of federal cases throughout the country.
Thanks to Dan Eckhart’s federal forfeiture expertise he has successfully beat a number of cases where state or federal agents have seized bank accounts, cash, jewelry, automobiles, homes, and boats. Forfeiture defense is a complicated process and retaining an attorney with forfeiture experience will increase the chances of recovering your assets. Since 2017, Dan has defended clients against 25 federal forfeiture seizures, most of which were cash seizures at airports by DEA or Homeland Security.
