Reuters · October 14, 2026

Former Justice Department Official Sarmad Khojasteh Joins Boies Schiller Flexner as a Partner

• Sarmad Khojasteh left the U.S. Justice Department to join Boies Schiller Flexner as a partner handling white-collar defense, investigations and commercial litigation in New York and Washington, the firm said on Wednesday.
• Khojasteh joined the Justice Department in April 2025 from King & Spalding and was most recently deputy assistant attorney general for the department's special litigation and enforcement and affirmative litigation branches, according to the report.
• The firm cited Khojasteh's work securing a $600 million settlement in July from Alibaba and its U.S.-based payment processor to resolve allegations that they failed to prevent illegal drug sales, according to the report.
• The Justice Department has shrunk by more than 8,000 employees since 2025, including more than 4,000 lawyers who have left since January 2025, according to August data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, cited in the report; the government has also hired more than 1,700 lawyers in that time, according to the report.

Hiring and role details via Boies Schiller Flexner, cited in the original report; staffing figures via the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, cited in the original report. No response from the Justice Department is documented in the source. Original headline: "Law firm Boies Schiller adds white-collar partner in latest DOJ exit".