After graduating from Michigan State University, Dan started his career in San Francisco as a Special Agent with the United States Customs Service. Dan investigated money laundering, narcotics smuggling, money laundering, and customs fraud cases. In 1990, Dan left U.S. Customs Service to attend Memphis University Law School. After graduating from law school, Dan was hired through the United States Department of Justice’s Honors Program as an Assistant Regional Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Kansas City. He handled matters involving high-profile inmates including Christopher Boyce (Falcon and the Snowman), Omar Abdel-Rahman (First World Trade Center Bombing), Leonard Peltier (Killing of an FBI agent at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation), Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber), Jonathan Pollard (Israeli spy), Tim McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bombing), and John Gotti (Gambino Crime Family). Dan investigated staff misconduct and various security threat groups including the Aryan Brotherhood, the Latin Kings, and the Mexican Mafia. Dan was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel and assigned to the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Central Florida. One of Dan’s cases, Lopez vs. Davis, was heard by the United States Supreme Court in 2000. Dan was sworn in by former Chief Justice Rehnquist and provided litigation assistance to the DOJ Office of Solicitor General.
In 2002, Dan left the Federal Bureau of Prisons to become an Assistant United States Attorney (federal prosecutor) in the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division. Dan worked in the civil, asset forfeiture, and criminal divisions during his ten years with the office. Dan’s forfeiture knowledge helped him successfully prosecute international money-laundering cases. He traveled to Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Ireland, and the Netherlands to work with foreign prosecutors, agents and United States Embassy officials. These cases involved members of the Zeta Drug Cartel former members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and others. He also handled and tried complex white-collar matters including bank fraud, wire fraud, mortgage fraud, money laundering, tax fraud, FOREX trading, healthcare fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and Ponzi/investment schemes. Dan was co-counsel for the prosecution of Lou Pearlman, the founder of the Backstreet Boys who ran a $300 million dollar Ponzi scheme. He was also co-counsel for the prosecution of the Black Mafia Family (BMF), a criminal organization which disturbed drugs through Orlando, Atlanta and Detroit. The Lou Pearlman and BMF cases have been the subject of multiple documentaries on Netflix and Amazon Prime. He also prosecuted a number of drug, child pornography and firearms cases. Dan received recognition from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States Secret Service (USSS), and the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
In 2013, Dan became a partner with a law firm specializing in products liability, class actions, and federal whistleblower cases. He left the firm to become General Counsel and Corporate Security Officer at a private bank in Orlando. In addition to handling the bank’s legal matters, Dan was responsible for cyber-security and fraud investigations and worked closely with the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, and regulatory officials.
Dan started his own law firm, “Dan Eckhart Law” in 2017. He has defended dozens of federal and state criminal cases throughout the United States. With his asset forfeiture experience, Dan has handled a number of federal and state asset forfeiture cases throughout the United States. He was able to negotiate the return of seized cash and assets including bank accounts, boats, trucks, and homes. He was retained by record companies to fight for the return of high-end jewelry and watches seized from Rap Artists or their associates at U.S. airports. His criminal clients have included ordinary citizens, lawyers, doctors, police officers, coaches, churches, pharmacists, medical facilities, correctional officers, federal agents, public officials, bankers, small and business owners. He has represented persons accused of timeshare fraud, bribery of government officials, lottery fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, drug smuggling, attempted murder, murder, possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, production of child pornography, narcotics distribution (cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, marijuana, and fentanyl), contracting fraud, Covid/PPP loan fraud, SBA loan fraud, gambling, identity theft, social security fraud, obstruction of justice, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, wire fraud, bank fraud, agriculture loan fraud, felon in possession of firearms, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms offenses, mortgage fraud, theft of honest services fraud. Dan successfully defended allegations brought by the NCAA, the Florida Department of Financial Services, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida House of Representatives, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Securities Exchange Commission, Homeland Security, FBI, and DEA. Dan also represented four individuals charged with crimes arising from the January 6thdisturbance at the U.S. Capitol, all of whom received pardons from President Trump. He has also defended clients charged with state offenses by the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecutor for time-share fraud, money laundering, RICO, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, grand theft and exploitation of the elderly. He defended a rape case in Tennessee and murder case in Michigan. He is currently defending a federal client accused of running the largest dark web marketplace since “Silk Road.” In 2025 he represented a federal client accused of nearly 300 “swatting calls” some against high-level government officials and federal law enforcement.
Dan has been a speaker for the Association of Certified Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS), Offshore Alert, the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI), the Florida Bankers Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Topics have included cryptocurrency, money laundering, asset forfeiture, cyber-security, white-collar crime, investment fraud, Suspicious Activity Reports, and various compliance and Bank Secrecy Act issues. Dan has been an at-large board member for the Orlando Chapter of the Federal Bar Associations (FBA) and has given a number of presentations for the FBA at the Orlando Federal Courthouse.
Dan spoke in London, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, the Cayman Islands and at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He was also an adjunct law professor at Barry Law School from 2017-2018 teaching Trial Advocacy. He has been featured on CNN, the BBC, in the Washington Post, in Variety and several local news outlets. He was also a regular legal contributor on New Nations’ “Banfield.” Dan is licensed to practice law in Florida, Missouri, and Kansas (inactive). He is also admitted to the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Columbia. He is “Of Counsel” with three law firms, Abood Law, a Michigan criminal defense firm established in 1956, the Bigney Law Firm and the Moses and Rooth, located in Orlando. Dan was one of four attorneys appointed to the Merit Selection Panel for the Middle District of Florida to recommend two new federal magistrate judges in 2018 and 2019. He was again selected as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers Association in 2026.
