Charles D. Gabriel, Attorney

Highly regarded for his expertise in the areas of ethics, public corruption, and the challenges facing those in public commerce, attorney Chuck Gabriel is widely recognized as a powerful and effective speaker, as well as a lawyer and investigator.

A 28-year veteran of the FBI, Chuck recently formed a general law practice in the Atlanta area where he offers a variety of legal and consulting services to businesses throughout Georgia and across the U.S. A native of Syracuse, New York, he received his bachelor's and law degrees from Syracuse University.

Beginning his career as an FBI Legal Advisor and Instructor, Chuck taught both federal and local law enforcement officers constitutional criminal procedure and the lawful use of sophisticated investigative techniques. For ten years he served as the FBI's in-house counsel in Savannah, Georgia, and serving as the liaison between the investigative elements of the FBI and the prosecutors of the United States Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice.

Chuck established and supervised the FBI's statewide Asset Forfeiture Unit, expanding the ethical use of asset forfeiture beyond drug enforcement to white collar and financial crimes. Among the unit's most notable successes were the multi-million dollar series of health care fraud money laundering forfeitures.

In 1997, Chuck returned to public corruption casework. His many successful cases include a conviction of a Georgia state senator that ultimately led to a state constitutional amendment automatically removing elected officials from office upon a felony conviction. 

Seeing a need for greater public understanding of public corruption, Chuck established the Public Corruption Awareness Program for the FBI in Georgia and began an active public speaking career providing a thought-provoking assessment of the federal government's role in addressing public corruption at the state and local government level.

During his last year as an agent, Chuck was selected by the Justice Department to represent the United States at a US-sponsored Southeast Europe Regional Anti-Corruption conference in the former East bloc country of Slovenia . In retirement, he continued as part of a four-person United States team that advised the Latvian Government as they designed and created a national Anti-Corruption Bureau.

After his FBI retirement, and strengthened by his reputation in the arena of public corruption, Chuck represented a group of individual citizens in pressing a successful Georgia State Ethics Commission complaint against a sitting county commission chairman that resulted in the highest civil fine ever imposed on a sitting official for violations of the Georgia Ethics in Government Act.