Gonzalo P. Curiel

Curiel's parents married in 1946 and later became American citizens.

Curiel graduated from high school at the Bishop Noll Institute.

Gonzalo Paul Curiel (born September 7, 1953) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, the youngest of four children.

His parents, Salvador and Francisca, had emigrated from Mascota, a small Mexican town near Puerto Vallarta in the state of Jalisco.

Salvador worked as a laborer in Arizona before moving to Indiana where he worked in the steel mills.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University in 1976 and his Juris Doctor from the Indiana University School of Law in 1979 and is a member of the fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

Curiel worked in private practice, first at James, James & Manning from 1979 to 1986 and then at Barbosa & Vera from 1986 to 1989.

He was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California from 1989 to 2002.

While in the Southern District, he served as Deputy Chief (1996–1999) and then Chief (1999–2002) of the Narcotics Enforcement Division.

During his tenure with the Narcotics Enforcement Division, Curiel handled a case involving two alleged members of the Arellano Felix cartel of Tijuana, Mexico.

U.S. law enforcement arrested the two alleged murderers in California, based on information from Mexican authorities, and Curiel sought their extradition to Mexico.

The two men objected to extradition by arguing that the information used to track them down had been obtained in Mexico via torture.

Curiel argued: "The [U.S.] Government is not here to deny there is a possibility of torture. ... There are serious allegations of torture. But the forum for those allegations to be aired is the Government of Mexico."

While still in United States custody, one of the men allegedly threatened Curiel's life, so that Curiel had to live under federal protection for a time.

The extradition case went up to a federal appeals court, with Curiel arguing the case.

The appeals court decided that the extradition could proceed, saying that there was enough evidence to support it without using the evidence allegedly obtained via torture.

Curiel hailed the ruling, which he said might lead to greater cooperation between the two countries in the fight against the drug cartel.

Curiel then worked as an assistant United States attorney in the Central District of California from 2002 to 2006.

In 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Curiel to the San Diego County Superior Court.

He held that position until his appointment to the federal bench.

On November 10, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Curiel to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

He replaced Judge Thomas J. Whelan, who had taken senior status.

Curiel was rated "well qualified" by a substantial majority of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates federal judicial nominees.

Curiel received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 28, 2012, which reported his nomination to the Senate on April 26, 2012, by voice vote.

In the early hours of September 22, 2012, on what was officially still the legislative day of September 21, the Senate confirmed Curiel by voice vote.

He received his commission on October 1, 2012.

He assumed senior status on September 7, 2023.

In February 2014, Curiel certified Tarla Makaeff v. Trump University as a class action case that alleged Trump University was "a basically fraudulent endeavor", and he accepted residents of three states as members of that class.

In October 2014, Curiel certified Cohen v. Trump as another national class action against then-entrepreneur Donald Trump.

In March 2016, Curiel allowed Makaeff to withdraw her name from the first lawsuit, and the case was retitled Low v. Trump University.

In May 2016, Curiel granted a request by The Washington Post for public release of certain Trump University documents and depositions that had been filed in the case.

Curiel scheduled a trial to begin in the Low case on November 28, 2016, in San Diego.

He had planned to start the trial in the summer of 2016, but postponed it until after the 2016 Presidential election because of concerns that jurors would be affected by a "media frenzy" if the trial took place before the election.

In November 2016, after Trump had been elected president, his attorneys asked that the case be delayed until after Trump's inauguration, set for January 20, 2017.

Curiel denied the request but urged the parties to pursue a settlement, and recruited District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller to facilitate settlement talks.

On November 18 a $25 million settlement of all three pending cases (Curiel's two class-action suits plus a suit filed by the attorney general of New York) was announced and was certified by Curiel.

Implementation of the settlement was delayed because one individual claimant wished to pursue a separate lawsuit.

A district court and an appeals court rejected that individual's claim, and Curiel finalized the settlement in April 2018.

Former students can now get a refund of up to 90% of the money they spent on courses.