Frank is a decorated, former federal prosecutor and former judicial law clerk. A skilled legal writer and natural public speaker with both federal appellate court and federal trial court experience, Frank represents HSM’s clients in matters ranging from complex commercial litigation to government investigations.

Frank served for more than six years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Florida. As part of that Office’s Criminal Division (Economic Crimes Section and Special Victims Section), he led investigations and prosecutions of numerous violations of United States Code, including money laundering and illegal monetary transactions; wire, mail, access-device, bank, and health care fraud; RICO; environmental crimes; aggravated identity theft; human trafficking; civil rights offenses; terrorism hoaxes; and child exploitation offenses. Before joining the Criminal Division, Frank served for one year in the Office’s Appellate Division, where he authored appellate briefs in direct appeals, conducted oral argument in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and coordinated the Office’s district-wide response to post-conviction litigation.

Before his tenure as a federal prosecutor, Frank served for two years as a federal judicial law clerk. During that period, Frank worked on the federal “Engle Tobacco” docket presided over by the Hon. William G. Young, District of Massachusetts (sitting by designation in the Middle District of Florida). Part of that service included serving as a law clerk for visiting judges from throughout the federal judiciary during seven trials. Frank also subsequently participated in the “Engle Tobacco” federal mediation effort, resulting in a $100 million settlement in February 2015. Following that settlement, Frank assisted the appointed Rule 53 Special Master, the Hon. Anthony E. Porcelli, to create a distribution plan for the settlement funds and helped administer their distribution to qualifying plaintiffs.

Significant matters include:

• Leading the prosecution and dismantling of an international child exploitation and money laundering organization referred to as the “Newstar Enterprise.” For 15 years, the Newstar Enterprise had sexually exploited vulnerable children in Eastern Europe under the guise of “child modeling,” through a collection of subscription-based websites called the Newstar Websites. The Enterprise had a presence in more than 10 countries, produced 4.6 million images and videos, had customers in over 100 countries, and in its last 10 years of operation had generated roughly $10 million in revenue.
• Prosecuting and trying to guilty verdict a Chief Executive Officer charged with having run an $80 million FOREX trading, Ponzi-style scheme through the corporation Oasis International Group Ltd.
• Representing a Miami corporation and its principal in a civil lawsuit stemming from the multi-million-dollar theft of investment funds by the principal of a reputable aviation escrow company, who had been federally indicted for using her escrow company to perpetuate a drug-trafficking conspiracy and Ponzi scheme.
• Representing a real estate private equity firm in a multi-million-dollar ground-lease and development-agreement dispute.
• Prosecuting a national wildlife dealer known as “the Monkey Whisperer” for having violated the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act through illicit primate sales to celebrity clientele.
• Prosecuting a multi-state RICO conspiracy involving the trafficking and forced labor of Mexican agricultural H-2A workers.
• Representing a global hotel chain in a jurisdictional dispute in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.
• Representing the United States in a series of prosecutions against individuals in the Tampa Bay area who were defrauding undocumented persons by posing as attorneys and charging them for legal services.
• Prosecuting a Pasco County, Florida, man for criminal civil rights violations who had threatened and harassed an Iraqi-American family in an attempt to force them to move out of his neighborhood.
• Assisting the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to revive the unsolved 2006 kidnapping and murder of minor Amber Woods, resulting in multiple second-degree murder charges in December 2020.
• Prosecuting a Florida man who was sexually abusing his infant child and posting videos of the abuse in a dark-net forum.
• Securing a life sentence and 35-year sentence against two Florida school administrators, respectively, both of whom sexually abused children and conspired with each other to have sex with minors.

While working at the Department of Justice, Frank was involved in numerous community outreach programs. For six years, he volunteered for the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division’s Intensive Reentry Program, helping inmates at high risk of recidivism to reenter society. Additionally, he worked with “Guys with Ties,” a community outreach program where federal prosecutors visit and counsel students at underprivileged schools. Frank also volunteered with a non-profit animal rescue organization.