Eric Neff, a former prosecutor at the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, has been appointed as acting chief of the voting section in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration. Neff’s new role comes after his controversial involvement in a 2022 prosecution against Konnech, a Michigan-based software company that provides services to election officials.
Neff was placed on administrative leave from the L.A. County district attorney’s office following allegations of misconduct during the Konnech case. The investigation accused Konnech CEO Eugene Yu of fraud and embezzlement, claiming poll worker information was stored on a server in China, which would have violated a contract with L.A. County. Six weeks after charges were filed, prosecutors dropped the case and began investigating possible irregularities and bias in how evidence was presented.
As part of a legal settlement, L.A. County paid Konnech $5 million and joined a motion to find Yu factually innocent. Two officials familiar with an internal probe said Neff misled supervisors about the involvement of election denial groups in his investigation and withheld information about potential biases from a grand jury.
In a civil lawsuit filed last year, Neff claimed he had been cleared by an internal review conducted by an outside law firm; however, two officials disputed this characterization. District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office declined to comment or release results from the investigation.
Neff’s attorney, Tom Yu (not related to Eugene Yu), stated that Neff had no obligation to provide background details about the origins of the case to the grand jury. “He was let go because Trump tweeted a statement of ‘Go George Go’,” Yu said regarding Eugene Yu’s release. “That’s why Eugene Yu was let go. Because Gascón was so scared he was going to lose votes.”
The DOJ did not comment on Neff’s appointment or describe his job duties but confirmed that his name appears on recent lawsuits against states refusing to turn over voter registration lists and on litigation seeking records related to Georgia’s 2020 election.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon commented on recent DOJ actions: “We will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws,” she said in a statement. “If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”
The DOJ website describes the voting section as responsible for enforcing federal laws protecting voting rights, including those outlined in the Voting Rights Act.
Neff previously worked as an L.A. County prosecutor starting in 2013 before being promoted to handle public integrity cases in 2020. According to court filings and his lawsuit, he handled only two prosecutions related to elections: one involving Konnech and another concerning Compton city council member Isaac Galvan, who faced charges for alleged election fraud.
Justin Levitt, constitutional law professor at Loyola Law School and former official in DOJ’s civil rights division under President Obama, expressed concern over Neff’s qualifications: “The biggest problem with somebody with Neff’s history is the giant screaming red flag that involves filing a prosecution based on unreliable evidence,” Levitt said. “That’s not something any prosecutor should do.”
Tom Yu defended his client’s qualifications: “Eric got the job because he’s qualified to get the job. He didn’t get the job for any other reason. He got the job because he’s an excellent advocate,” he said. “I think the Justice Department is very fortunate to have Eric.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 6:01 AM.
