Elliot Sol Abrams
Elliot cares deeply about his clients,
stands up for them in and out of court, and enforces their rights.
Elliot Sol Abrams is a partner at Cheshire Parker who represents individuals and businesses in high-stakes cases and investigations. A substantial portion of Elliot’s practice involves white-collar criminal defense, asset forfeiture defense, healthcare fraud defense, and defending licensed professionals facing disciplinary actions. Elliot also handles select civil matters and other proceedings, including NCAA Infractions cases and government ethics investigations.
Elliot was selected for inclusion in SuperLawyers, Business North Carolina Legal Elite, and Best Lawyers in America. Elliot also a 10 of 10 rating on Avvo.com.
Elliot co-authored the Federal Criminal Practice Chapter of the North Carolina Bar Association’s General Practitioner’s Guide to Criminal Law (2016); is the Vice President of the Federal Bar Association Eastern District of North Carolina Chapter; won a unanimous en banc decision by the Fourth Circuit related to asset forfeiture (Lawyers Weekly article, opinion); co-authored an amicus (friend of the court) brief for the U.S. Supreme Court on a criminal forfeiture issue; and has lectured for attorney organizations and civic groups on a wide array of topics including asset forfeiture and high-tech government surveillance techniques.
Elliot has represented people from all walks of life including, among many other folks, two members of the North Carolina House of Representatives; numerous multi-million-dollar corporations; a Superior Court Judge; members of the United States Army Special Forces, as well as other military and law enforcement officers; a former gubernatorial candidate; the chairman of a county school board; multiple corporate officers; and numerous bankers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents. He also defeated allegations against his client in the long-running NCAA infractions case against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In criminal matters, Elliot has helped clients avoid charges or defend against a wide array of alleged offenses, including conspiracy, bribery, bank fraud, healthcare fraud, mail and wire fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, antitrust, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as drug offenses, gun charges, sexual assaults, and murder. Elliot has also won two Motions to Suppress high-tech government surveillance in separate large-scale joint federal and state investigations.
Examples of Elliot’s work on forfeiture cases includes obtaining the release of over $2 million in seized client assets in a long-running bribery prosecution, and convincing the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a longstanding rule that allowed the government to seize citizens’ innocent assets before a criminal conviction.
In civil matters, Elliot has helped clients in breach of contract and fiduciary duty claims, RICO violations, False Claims Act matters, healthcare program reimbursement demands, and tortious interference with business and unfair trade practices suits.
Elliot has conducted internal investigations responding to government, whistleblower or other allegations of illegal conduct, and has represented clients before various administrative boards and other adjudicative bodies, including the NCAA Committee on Infractions, various government ethics and professional licensing boards, the FDIC’s enforcement division, the SEC, the CFTC, and numerous university disciplinary committees.
Elliot earned his law degree at Georgetown University, where he was a member of the moot court team and won best brief in a regional competition. He was also the Treasurer for Habitat for Humanity. During law school, Elliot worked for the firm and assisted Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon prepare and try a four-week first degree murder trial that ended with a not guilty verdict. Elliot obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where was selected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and graduated in the top 3 percent of his class. In high school, Elliot was a captain of both the varsity wrestling and varsity lacrosse teams and a letterman in varsity soccer. Elliot has also competed on a blue marlin tournament fishing team that won the Governor’s Cup (a competition between fishing teams in North Carolina and South Carolina).
*Note that the specific cases referenced above and below do not represent all of the cases Cheshire Parker Schneider has handled, and that past results do not guarantee similar outcomes in future cases. Every case is unique.
- Won unanimous en banc opinion by the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit in United States v. Chamberlain, No. 16-4314 (2017) (Lawyers Weekly Article).
- Obtained the release of over $2 million in seized assets in a long-running federal bribery prosecution.
- Defeated NCAA infraction allegations in the long-running NCAA infractions case against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NCAA.org).
- Obtained dismissal of an FDIC enforcement action against a national bank officer.
- Obtained dismissal of a 101-count federal indictment of a health care professional related to prescription fraud.
- Successfully avoided prosecution or civil penalties of a physician being investigated for False Claims Act violations exceeding $20 million.
- Successfully avoided prosecution of an officer of a national bank in a bank fraud investigation.
- Successfully avoided prosecution of a doctor facing a multi-million-dollar healthcare fraud investigation.
- Won a Motion to Suppress GPS Tracking in a large-scale joint federal and state investigation.
- Won a Motion to Suppress a Wiretap in a separate large-scale joint federal and state investigation and obtained a dismissal of the case by the government as a result.
- Won new trial motions in two separate federal criminal prosecutions.