MARK H. DUBESTER has been an attorney with Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP since 2018.  His practice at CGL focuses on representing plaintiffs in complex litigation involving securities, opioid distribution and marketing, Fifth Amendment “takings” litigation arising from Government-induced flooding on the Mississippi River, corruption in Government contracting, and improper pension fund investments, specifically:

• Mr. Dubester is assuming a lead role in representing the State of Mississippi and hundreds of property owners in a complicated Fifth Amendment “takings” case against the United States.  These suits, brought in the Federal Court of Claims, allege that the United States has caused systematic flooding of their properties along the Mississippi River, for which the United States owed Plaintiffs compensation.  Plaintiffs successfully defeated the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, reported in State of Mississippi v. United States, 146 Fed. Cl. 693 (2020).   Trial is expected in 2022.
• Mr. Dubester recently represented a group of investors who were defrauded in a $300 million national Ponzi scheme, bringing claims against the operators of a Bethesda, Maryland-based “feeder” fund, and malpractice claims against a prominent area law firm. After extensive and vigorously fought motion practice and discovery, the case was favorably resolved on the eve of trial.
• Mr. Dubester is part of a team of lawyers representing hospitals in actions brought, in state and federal courts across the country, against opioid manufacturers and distributors arising out of the ongoing opioid crisis.  He is one of the lead architects of the Plaintiffs’ legal theories which have been successfully advanced in various courts.  The team recently obtained an order denying (in principal part) motions to dismiss the bellwether hospital case pending in the federal multidistrict litigation styled In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation (N.D. Ohio), and has been similarly successful in sustaining hospital claims in state courts in West Virginia and Arizona.

Prior to joining CGL, Mr. Dubester’s experience included:

• Assistant United States Attorney.  Mr. Dubester served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for 25 years, where he prosecuted and supervised the prosecution of complex fraud and public corruption cases of local and national importance. During his tenure as an AUSA, he tried more than 20 felony cases in Federal Court as lead attorney, including a wide variety of white collar offense (including tax evasion, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, gratuities, money laundering, false statements and perjury), and another 40 felony cases (including homicide, rape, and violent crime) in D.C. Superior Court.
• House Committee Counsel.  Mr. Dubester served as Counsel for the House Committee on the Judiciary handling the full range of Committee assignments, including Civil Rights (voting rights, hate crimes), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and oversight of the Bush Administration’s detention programs.
• Special Impeachment Counsel.  Mr. Dubester served as Special Impeachment Counsel in connection with the House of Representatives’ impeachments of two federal judges.  In connection with the Impeachment of (former) District Court Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Mr. Dubester was the prime investigator assembling the evidence to support the Judge’s impeachment.  He questioned witnesses at House Hearings and before the Senate Impeachment Trial Committee.
• Investigative Counsel.  Mr. Dubester also served as Investigative Counsel for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and for the Deputy Chief Special Investigative Counsel for the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), where his duties in both positions included investigating fraud and corruption in connection with these massive Government spending programs.  While at SIGAR, Mr. Dubester was responsible for the investigation and prosecution of a senior officer in United States Army Colonel for corruption-related offenses associated with the officer’s management of a sensitive military procurement contract related to the United States’ military role in Afghanistan.