Dean Valore

Dean gained extensive white-collar investigation, trial, and appellate experience as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio and is recognized as one of the top attorneys in the nation. As a federal prosecutor, Dean attained a 100% conviction rate. He has also lectured internationally on criminal law, including at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

During his career as a prosecutor, Dean tried over 75 cases before juries in state and federal court as first-chair counsel and handled dozens of bench trials. He also handled appeals in both state and federal courts in Ohio.

As an Assistant United States Attorney, Dean was a member of the elite Strikeforce Unit which focused on corporate malfeasance, public corruption, and organized crimes. In the national security unit, he led investigations and prosecutions related to domestic and international terrorism matters involving terrorist financing and money laundering and investigated and successfully prosecuted immigration fraud cases.

His work included the highest profile cases in the U.S. Department of Justice, including international conspiracies. Highlights include:

• Leading U.S. Justice Department prosecutors and U.S. government and foreign agents in an investigation resulting in the successful prosecution of one of the nation’s largest international cybercrimes groups;
• Successfully investigating and prosecuting a large scale, Russian auto theft ring operating in over 10 states;
• Leading a team of national and international prosecutors and law enforcement officials investigating a large cybercrime group in Eastern Europe conducting email phishing scams and illegal wire fraud on one of the largest financial institutions in the United States;
• Investigating and successfully prosecuting an Eastern European crime lord’s operation both overseas and in the United States, which included, gambling, extortion, money laundering, murder, weapons trafficking, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.
• Leading the investigation and prosecution of over 50 alleged criminal civil rights violations matters, ranging from racially motivated hate crimes to excessive use of force by police officers;
• Serving as the lead prosecutor in several large scale human trafficking, prostitution, illegal labor, and harboring of illegal immigrants cases including United States vs. David Tuason, which involved a 20-year unsolved racially motivated hate crime, in which one of the victims was a sitting United States Supreme Court Justice.

Prior to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dean served as Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor and later as Founding Member of a law firm specializing in litigation. While an Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Dean prosecuted cases involving public corruption, and complex financial and white-collar crimes. He handled complex grand jury investigations of financial institutions and of other individuals involved in criminal activity.

Experience

• Partner, Wegman Hessler Valore, 2023-present
• Partner, Valore & Gordillo, LPA, 2012-2023
• Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorneys Office, Northern District of Ohio, 2007-2012
• Partner, Valore & Cruse Co., LPA, Westlake, Ohio, 2005-2007
• Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office, 2000-2005
• Law Clerk, United States Attorneys Office, Northern District of Ohio, 1999

Dean and his wife, Attorney Anna Ferguson, live in Westlake, Ohio, with their two children.

Lectures & Presentations

• Adjunct Professor Of Law: Criminal Procedure, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Spring 2012 to present
• Cops & Crimes: Police Use of Deadly Force, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, March 2012
• Human Trafficking & Alien Smuggling, St. Mary’s Seminary, Cleveland, Ohio, April 2011
• Federal & State Grand Jury Practice, Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland Ohio, January 2011
• Technology in the Practice & the Courtroom – Cybercrime, Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Columbus, Ohio, December 2011
• International Cybercrime, Cleveland-Marshal College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio, October 2008, October 2010
• Trends in Federal Prosecution – Cybercrime, The 8th Annual Information Security Summit, Cleveland, Ohio, October 2010
• Romanian Organized Crime, United States Attorney General’s International Organized Crime Council, Washington, D. C. March 2010
• Human Rights Issues in Ohio, Northern District of Ohio: Law Enforcement Conference with Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cleveland, Ohio, November 2009