Ex-Justice Department lawyer pleads guilty in SF in legal-document thefts

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A former U.S. Justice Department lawyer living in the Bay Area was caught trying to cash in on his knowledge of sealed complaints against corporations and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and transportation of stolen property, officials said.

Jeffrey Wertkin, 41, of Cupertino was arrested Jan. 31 while trying to sell a copy of a sealed complaint to a person he believed was a representative of the company named in the documents, in exchange for $310,000. The transaction was an FBI sting.

Wertkin was charged Nov. 1 with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. His guilty plea on all counts was accepted Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in San Francisco.

Wertkin worked in the Justice Department’s civil fraud section from 2010 until April 2016. According to his plea agreement, he had access on the job to whistle-blower complaints brought against companies. Such complaints are usually sealed from public view.

In the month before he left the Justice Department, Wertkin secretly collected sealed complaints that were not related to his caseload. After his departure, he used the information in soliciting business as a private litigator from companies named in the complaints, according to his plea agreement.

Wertkin also admitted to trying to sell information to companies that were the subject of government investigations. In one such attempt, he mailed a redacted copy of the face sheet on a complaint to the corporation named in it and promised that he would provide the entire document for a fee.

He was caught trying to sell another complaint. On Nov. 30, 2016, he made an offer to what he took to be a corporation named in a lawsuit and spent the next two months negotiating a $310,000 price tag with a company representative. He was arrested in Cupertino when the representative turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

After being booked for that offense, Wertkin returned to his office under the guise of collecting his belongings and destroyed incriminating documents, according to his plea bargain.

Wertkin is scheduled to be sentenced March 14. The maximum term for each charge of obstruction is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. For interstate transportation of stolen goods, the maximum penalty is 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15