Catherine Maraist defends health care providers and other businesses in claims arising from federal regulatory statutes. She is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P. She focuses her practice on white collar civil and criminal defense and healthcare. Catherine has extensive experience in matters involving federal criminal law, federal civil law and procedure, civil and criminal health care fraud, appellate advocacy, trial advocacy, and professional responsibility. Catherine is a writer and lecturer in various areas of federal civil and criminal law, including health care fraud and compliance. Catherine has also served as an instructor in criminal and civil trial advocacy and appellate advocacy programs at LSU Law School and at the United States Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.


Before joining Breazeale, Catherine served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana for over 15 years, serving in both civil and criminal capacities. As a federal prosecutor, Catherine investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal crimes, including firearm violations, narcotics, embezzlement, money laundering, tax fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, health care fraud, asset forfeiture, and money laundering. Catherine spent several years as a member of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, a federal government task force focused on prosecuting health care providers for fraud on the Medicare and Medicaid programs. After becoming Civil Chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2011, Catherine prosecuted businesses and individuals under the False Claims Act, the federal government’s tool for recovering damages and penalties based on civil fraud. As Civil Chief, she also supervised the litigation of all civil matters involving the United States, including Federal Tort Claims Act Litigation, Title VII employment discrimination claims, Rehabilitation Act/ADA claims brought by and against the government, asset forfeiture, and other related civil financial and regulatory matters.