Describing his actions as “a staggering abuse of his public position,” federal prosecutors in San Francisco on Wednesday sought a nearly three-year prison sentence for Jeffrey Wertkin, a former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner and Justice Department lawyer who admitted to trying to sell copies of confidential whistleblower lawsuits to targeted companies.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Wertkin's plan to “cash in” on inside information when he left the government for private practice amounted to “one of the most disturbing cases of public corruption ever prosecuted in the Northern District of California.” The government added that Wertkin—who joined Akin as a partner in 2016 after a nearly six-year stint as a trial lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division's fraud section—stole at least 40 sealed False Claims Act lawsuits from the DOJ and later tried to pin blame on former government colleagues.

Wertkin “escalated his efforts to profiteer from stolen government property by trying to sell some of these sealed qui tam complaints to the very companies whose conduct was under investigation by the government,” prosecutors wrote in the memo. “The defendant's criminal conduct culminated in a post-arrest obstruction binge wherein he returned to his law firm, destroyed evidence and staged his office—falsely implicating one of his former DOJ colleagues as the source for some of the contraband.”

The government called for a 34-month prison sentence for Wertkin, which would align with the sentencing guidelines for the charges he admitted to in his guilty plea—obstruction of justice and interstate transport of stolen property. Prosecutors also said that normally, they would have urged an even tougher sentence, but that the guideline range should apply in light of Wertkin's early admission of guilt and cooperation with investigators.

“Jeffrey Wertkin abused the public trust and tried to tarnish the reputation of the DOJ in the process,” the government wrote. “However, because the defendant admitted his guilt very early in the process and proactively assisted the government in unraveling the full extent of his criminal scheme, the government recommends a guideline sentence.”

Wertkin's defense team, led by Cristina Arguedas of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley, also filed a sentencing memo on Wednesday, calling for a shorter sentence of one year and one day in prison. The defense memo described Wertkin's behavior as “an almost unaccountable detour in an otherwise honorable and law-abiding life” and said his actions were a product, at least in part, of long-running but undiagnosed anxiety and depression that flared up under the stress of his transition to private practice.

“Mr. Wertkin's offenses were serious—and he understands that he alone is responsible for them. Mr. Wertkin comprehends the weight of his mistakes, his betrayals of his former colleagues at the DOJ and his own ethical standards, and the harm he has caused,” Wertkin's defense lawyers wrote. “Yet Mr. Wertkin's criminal misconduct, and the desperate nature of his acts, stand in stark contrast to the careful, diligent and unblemished life he led up until the point of his crimes.”

The defense team continued, “When Mr. Wertkin for the first time encountered significant failures in both his professional and personal lives, he did not have the internal mechanisms for coping appropriately with those problems—and he stumbled down a disastrous path. His depression symptoms quietly mounted, dragging him down bit by bit, until he felt like he needed to take desperate actions.”

Wertkin's legal troubles began less than a year after he joined Akin in April 2016 from the DOJ, according to court records.

Federal agents arrested him in a Cupertino hotel lobby in January 2017. At the time, he was wearing a wig and sunglasses, and posing as someone named “Dan.” Wertkin went to the hotel for what he thought was a meeting to hand over sealed documents to a high-ranking company official targeted by a confidential whistleblower suit in exchange for $310,000. Instead, he was met by undercover agents who took him into custody. Following his arrest, Akin issued a statement expressing shock and saying that the firm swiftly took action to dismiss Wertkin.

In their sentencing memo on Wednesday, defense lawyers quoted Wertkin's father as saying that his son embarked on a “reckless and absurd plan.” The defense team also referenced Wertkin's arrest, comparing it to “a scene out of a B-grade action movie” and describing his disguise as “a ridiculous attempt to conceal his identity.”

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District of California, who is presiding over Wertkin's case, has set a sentencing hearing for March 7.