President Trump appoints Riverside County Assemblyman as US Attorney

NORCO, Calif. (KESQ) - Ex-Riverside Assemblyman Bill Essayli was sworn in today as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California following his appointment Tuesday by Attorney General Pam Bondi

Essayli, 39, was sworn in during a private ceremony by Chief U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in downtown Los Angeles. Essayli now oversees the largest U.S. Attorney's Office outside of Washington, D.C.

.@POTUS just asked my boss @BillEssayli for his business card. We are so back 🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/bxaOGDYbF6

— Shawn Lewis (@shawnclewis) January 25, 2025

The office, which employs more than 250 lawyers, serves almost 20 million residents in the counties of Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

"It is the honor of a lifetime to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office and serve the people of the district that I have called home for so many years,'' Essayli said. "As our district's chief federal prosecutor, I will work diligently and tirelessly with our federal and local law enforcement partners to implement the priorities of the president and the attorney general and to protect our communities from criminals. Our citizens deserve no less.''   

Essayli returns to the office after serving as a twice-elected member of the state Assembly, representing California's 63rd State Assembly District from December 2022 until Tuesday. The 63rd District comprises communities including parts of Riverside and Corona, and the cities of Menifee and Norco.

In October 2019, he founded and was a partner at the Newport Beach- based law firm Essayli & Brown LLP.   

From October 2014 to February 2018, Essayli served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District, serving in the Los Angeles and Riverside offices. As a federal prosecutor, Essayli handled cases involving violent and organized crime, identity theft, bank fraud, securities fraud and other white- collar crimes.  

He was part of the team of federal prosecutors that responded to the terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in December 2015. He also obtained a conviction in August 2015 at the conclusion of a three-week criminal trial of a Santa Barbara doctor charged with unlawfully prescribing opiates, which resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen patients.   

For two years prior to first joining the office, Essayli served as a deputy district attorney in the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.   

Before becoming a prosecutor, he was an associate attorney at the law firm of Paul Hastings LLP, focusing on employment law.   

Essayli is the son of Lebanese immigrants and a graduate of Centennial High School in Corona. He was the first in his family to graduate college, receiving his bachelor of arts degree from the Kellogg Honors College of Cal Poly Pomona. He received his juris doctorate from Chapman University School of
Law.