Matt Sloan is a battle-tested litigator and white-collar criminal defense counsel with over thirty years of experience as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and as a litigation partner. Before joining Valle Makoff, Mr. Sloan was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Los Angeles for 15 years. He has extensive trial experience and has handled a broad array of civil and criminal matters.
In his over three decades of experience, both in private practice and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sloan has successfully defended and prosecuted individuals and corporations in a variety of complex criminal, civil and regulatory matters, including those involving alleged securities fraud, insider trading, health care fraud, defense contractor fraud and whistleblower matters involving the False Claims Act (FCA). He also has conducted internal investigations for large domestic and foreign companies, including several Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Sloan also has significant experience handling complex civil litigation, including in the entertainment, biotech, retail food and accounting industries. Among other matters, Mr. Sloan represented MGA Entertainment in the high-profile Bratz v. Barbie doll case.
Among his more significant matters, Mr. Sloan has represented:
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- Fujian Jinhua, a Chinese manufacturer of DRAM memory devices, in obtaining the acquittal on all charges in an eight-week criminal trade secrets and economic espionage trial brought by the National Security Division of the DOJ
- James Mazzo, the former chairman and CEO of Advanced Medical Optics (AMO), in a criminal insider trading trial. After a six-week trial, the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal. The U.S. Attorney’s Office later dismissed the indictment with prejudice
- Bill Ruehle, the former CFO of Broadcom Corporation, against criminal and civil charges for allegedly backdating employee stock options. At the conclusion of the two-month trial, the court granted Mr. Ruehle’s motion for judgment of acquittal, dismissed the indictment for prosecutorial misconduct, and dismissed all of the charges against Mr. Ruehle in the SEC’s companion civil action
- A “Big Four” accounting firm in an arbitration in which a former audit client sought over $500 million in damages. After a two-week arbitration, the court rejected the plaintiff’s main damage claim and granted the plaintiff a small fraction of its requested damages for breach of contract
- Agility Logistics, a Kuwaiti logistics company, in one of the largest government contracting fraud prosecutions in U.S. history; the government dismissed the criminal charges and settled on very favorable terms due to Agility’s successful motion practice
- Greg Reyes, the former CEO of Brocade Communications, in the first-ever federal criminal trial charging a corporate executive with criminal securities fraud for allegedly backdating stock options
- MGA Entertainment in the “Bratz v. Barbie doll war” trial, a bet-the company battle over ownership of the Bratz line of dolls
- Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI), a provider of cutting-edge wound care products, in two False Claims Act cases brought by former employees
Mr. Sloan also has conducted numerous internal investigations for public companies, including:
- a multinational European supplier of medical devices and operator of medical clinics in an FCPA investigation into its operations in Thailand and Taiwan
- a Silicon Valley technology company in response to allegations that the head of the company’s Moscow office was paying bribes to Russian government officials in violation of the FCPA
- a major entertainment network in connection with bribery allegations involving the company’s operations in South America
- a major accounting firm in response to allegations that one of its key audit partners was involved in an insider trading scheme
Mr. Sloan served as an Assistant U.S. attorney in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles from 2002 through 2007, and as an Assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1998 through 2002. Mr. Sloan was a counsel and then partner at Skadden from 2007 through December 2025. He joined Valle Makoff as a partner in 2026.
In recognition of his work, the Daily Journal has named Mr. Sloan one of California’s Top White-Collar Lawyers in 2022; the Los Angeles Business Journal recognized him as a Top Litigator and Trial Lawyer in Los Angeles in 2024 and 2020; and Benchmark Litigation named him a Litigation Star in 2024. Mr. Sloan has also been named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Litigators and 500 Leading Litigators in America and one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in White Collar & Cyber Crimes Law by the Los Angeles Business Journal. He has repeatedly been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for Criminal Defense: White-Collar.
Mr. Sloan has a deep commitment to public service. He currently serves on the boards of Bet Tzedek Legal Services and the Karsh Social Service Center and was formerly on the board of the Counsel for Justice, the LA County Bar Association’s legal services foundation. He has handled numerous pro bono cases for Bet Tzedek, Public Counsel, the ACLU of Southern California, Everytown for Gun Safety, and several other legal services and public interest organizations.
Mr. Sloan received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1991 (cum laude) and his Bachelor of Arts in History from Yale University in 1987 (magna cum laude).