PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
May 19, 2003

STEVEN J. KATZMAN APPOINTED U.S. TRUSTEE FOR
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, HAWAII,
GUAM, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Steven J. Katzman has been appointed United States Trustee for the Southern District of California and the Districts of Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands (Region 15), it was announced today by Lawrence Friedman, Director of the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Katzman's appointment takes effect today.

"I am very pleased to welcome Steven Katzman to the U.S. Trustee Program," Friedman stated. "He is not only an experienced bankruptcy practitioner, but also a seasoned federal prosecutor, making him well-suited to carry out the U.S. Trustee Program's responsibility of working to protect the integrity of the bankruptcy system."

"Under the leadership of Director Friedman, I am eager to work with the talented professionals in the San Diego and Hawaii offices, and use my experience prosecuting bankruptcy fraud cases to implement the Attorney General's mandate to combat fraud and abuse in the bankruptcy system," Katzman stated.

Immediately before his appointment as U.S. Trustee, Katzman was senior insolvency and federal litigation counsel for the Orange County, Calif., law firm of Albert, Weiland & Golden LLP. He represented secured and unsecured creditors, debtors, creditors' committees, and trustees in all aspects of complex bankruptcy cases and proceedings and federal commercial litigation, while also supervising associates, paralegals, and other staff in litigation.

Before entering private practice, Katzman served for eight years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. From 1991 through 1996 he prosecuted bankruptcy fraud and related crimes, including mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud, in Los Angeles for the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. From 1996 through 1999, he established and managed a new office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, in Youngstown. Prior to his service with the U.S. Attorneys' offices, he was an associate with the Newport Beach, Calif., office of Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, and a law clerk for Bankruptcy Judge John E. Ryan in the Central District of California.

Katzman received his law degree in 1987 from the University of California School of Law at Davis and his undergraduate degree in 1984 from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The United States Trustee Program is a component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws.

The Program has 21 regions and 95 field offices. Region 15 is headquartered in San Diego with an additional office in Honolulu.

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