Greg Kehoe outlines Tampa Bay’s new U.S. lawyer priorities

TAMPA – Greg Kehoe has charged outlaw bikers, spies and war criminals. He defended troubled police officers and lawyers, and in the case of the high stakes he built a reputation as a typical advocate for his often well-known clients.

In March he became a US lawyer for the Central District of Florida. This is a belt of 35 counties that stretch from Jacksonville to Naples.

A brief conversation with his friend, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a few months ago, he said it was all that took to put him in the job he had been watching for years.

The appointment is the homecoming of Kehoe, 70 Kehoe, who served as deputy commander of the office in the early 90s.

The prosecutors here know him. And he knows them.

In a recent interview, he expressed his commitment to the Trump administration’s priorities, but he also spoke about his sense of duty and public service.

“I believe in greater benefits,” he said. “Most of my career was dedicated to it, so that’s why I came back.”

From New York to Florida to Iraq

Kehoe was born in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx in Brooklyn and Queens in New York. His father was a New York City police officer and had a law degree, but was not practiced. His mother has received multiple advanced degrees and worked as a teacher at a central city school for 40 years.

He’s grown older in a neighborhood with many police and firefighters. He remembers them as selfless and patriotic.

“I think I wanted to be like them,” he said.

After earning a degree in political science from Boston University in 1976, he returned to New York and earned a degree in law from St. John’s University. He was a clerk in federal law in New York before embarking on what had become a long career as a prosecutor.

Known as the Southern District of Florida, he won early victories in cases like drug trafficking, fear tor and assault-stricken charges against leaders of outlaw motorcycle clubs responsible for multiple murders.

In 1989 he came to Tampa to become the Chief Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of Florida. One notable case he overseen was the prosecution of former US Army sergeant Roderick Ramsey, a former US Army sergeant who was convicted and sentenced to prison for 36 years of prison for selling NATO military secrets to Hungary, Czechoslovakia and ultimately to the Soviet Union.

From 1995 to 1999 Kehoe lived in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he served in the International Criminal Court in former Yugoslavia. His case included the success of the prosecution in the 25-month trial of a Croatian general who ordered the massacre of Muslim non-combatants.

This experience set the foundation for many of Kehoe’s future. He later worked on the other side of the courtroom and secured the acquittal of other foreign military leaders accused of war crimes.

In 2004, Keho was chosen to lead a team of lawyers and investigators who advised a special tribunal that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had indicted a crime against humanity.

Based in Baghdad during the active rebellion of the time, Kehoe carried side arms and was heavily armed escorts through the long desert, sleeping in a trailer behind the former presidential palace of abdicated Iraqi dictator. His duties included excavating thousands of bodies, overseeing the genocide victims, and overseeing other atrocities committed by the Hussein regime.

In the next 20 years, Kehoe has crafted Tampa’s reputation as an outstanding white cotton crime and civil defense attorney. He represented the former Drug Enforcement Administration, which granted involvement in an illegal scheme to secure early prison releases for drug traffickers. He also represented one of the lawyers at Adams & Diaco Company who was rejected in the DUI setup of the opposing lawyer.

Priorities as a prosecutor

Past US lawyers in the region have been reviewed through the nomination committee and the senator, but Kehoe says his choice is much easier. He and Bondy know each other because he is the highest aide in the United States and she was the state prosecutor in Tampa.

“I was asked, do you want to be considered? And I said yes,” he said. “I want to tell you that it was more complicated than that, but it wasn’t really the case.”

The interim appointment of Keho in Bondi lasts for 120 days, at which point the local district judge can reappoint him.

He could be officially appointed to the role of President Donald Trump. This means going through a confirmation process in the Senate.

Does he think that will happen?

“I certainly hope so,” he said. But no matter what happens, Kehoe says it won’t affect his daily approach to work.

His priorities reflect Trump’s administration’s priorities. The main one is the enforcement of immigrant crimes. That means more lawsuits against those who re-enter the country after being deported.

But that also means pursuing cases that may fall into other categories. In particular, Kehoe mentioned new efforts to combat both foreigners and domestic gang activities, along with social security fraud.

However, these priorities do not mean that the office will leave the rest of the case. The recent talk in the legal community has focused on the possibility that white-collar crime could be much more attention. Not so, Keho said.

He said fraud cases related to the Covid-19 pandemic relief will continue. Cases related to healthcare fraud and false claims laws also target people and businesses who fraudulent the government. He touted a recent private settlement in a case in which his office helped his case against Walgreens. The pharmacy giant has agreed to pay $350 million to resolve allegations that it illegally fulfilled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids.

“We’re going to see everything there is,” he said. “White-collar fraud is extremely important because, frankly, it damages the structure of society and this community expects us to do so.”

He aims to keep morale high by visiting five district offices and talking to prosecutors and staff. He says that if you’re an “Ivory Tower US lawyer” you won’t be able to succeed.

Kehoe said he is aware of recent reports that the space his office occupies in downtown Tampa has appeared on the list of federal leases marked for government efficiency or for fire by Doge, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Despite saying that the office is still left without a home in Anchor City, Kehoe says he’s not worried and hasn’t heard that it’s possible since he became a US lawyer.

“We need an office,” he said. “We have hundreds of people.”

There have been a lot of changes since he last filed the lawsuit here. He said he was impressed by the refinement of technology and the way the office shares information with law enforcement, internally.

He aims to meet and talk regularly with local police and sheriff. He also wants to promote dialogue with the entire community. He wants people to know what his office is doing and their mission is personal.

“We live here too,” he said. “So we’re betting that our community is safe and that people feel safe.”