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Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is currently a partner at the law firm
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...
. He served as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
for five years prior to leading the Southern District. According to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Bharara was one of the "nation's most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors of public corruption and Wall Street crime" during his tenure.Benjamin Weiser & William K. Rashbaum
With Preet Bharara’s Dismissal, Storied Office Loses Its Top Fighter
''The New York Times'' (March 10, 2017).
Born in
Firozpur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who die ...
, India, his family immigrated to
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
in 1970. Bharara graduated from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...
in 1990 and attended Columbia Law School before joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a litigation associate in 1993. Three years later he moved to Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, where he did white-collar defense work. Bharara first entered the public sector as chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer, charged with investigating the 2006 presidential dismissal of U.S. attorneys. He transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004 as an assistant U.S. Attorney, launching his career as a federal prosecutor. His office heavily prosecuted the Italian mafia, convicting four out of the Five Families of drug trafficking,
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...
, and conspiracy to commit murder. Bharara similarly headed various counter-terrorism cases, particularly against
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
. His office used a variety of unconventional tactics to close cases such as wiretapping and asset seizure. He prosecuted nearly 100 Wall Street executives for
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
and
securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in lo ...
using these methods. Bharara closed multi-million dollar settlements with the four largest banks in the country, and most notably, shut down multiple high-profile
hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...
s. Known for his technocratic approach to prosecution, he routinely convicted both Democratic and Republican politicians on public corruption violations. Bharara occasionally pursued criminals extraterritorially, which after a 2013 Russian money laundering investigation, had him permanently banned from entering Russia. He also strained India–United States diplomatic relations by prosecuting prominent members of the Indian and Indian-American community, most notably high-profile diplomats, chief executives, businessmen, and hedge fund managers. Upon the election of U.S. President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, Bharara was dismissed after refusing to submit his resignation as part of the 2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys. After leaving government, he went into academia, joining
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...
's criminal justice faculty. He authored his first book, '' Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law'', in 2019. He also launched a series of podcasts including '' Stay Tuned with Preet'', and '' Doing Justice''.


Early life and career

Bharara was born in 1968 in
Firozpur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who die ...
,
Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...
, to a Sikh father and
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
mother. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1970, and Bharara became a U.S. citizen at age 12. He grew up in
Eatontown Eatontown is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the borough's population was 12,709,Monmouth County, New Jersey and attended
Ranney School , motto_translation = Life grants nothing to mortals without great work , address = 235 Hope Road , location = , region = , city = Tinton Falls , county ...
in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where he graduated as
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA) ...
in 1986. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...
in 1990. He then received a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
degree from Columbia Law School in 1993, where he was a member of the '' Columbia Law Review''. In 1993, Bharara joined the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a litigation associate. In 1996, Bharara joined the firm of Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, where he did white-collar defense work. He was an assistant
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
in Manhattan for five years, from 2000 to 2005, bringing criminal cases against the bosses of the
Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as th ...
, Colombo crime family and Asian gangs in New York City. Bharara served as the chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer and played a leading role in the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary investigation into the firings of United States attorneys.


U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

Bharara was nominated to become U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
on May 15, 2009, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was sworn into the position on August 13, 2009. In September 2014, when Attorney General Eric Holder announced his intention to step down, Bharara was speculated as being a potential candidate as the next
United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
.


International investigations

Bharara's office sent out agents to more than 25 countries to investigate suspects of arms and narcotics trafficking and terrorists, and bring them to Manhattan to face charges. One case involved
Viktor Bout Viktor Anatolyevich Bout (; russian: link=no, Виктор Анатольевич Бут; born 13 January 1967) is a Russian arms dealer. A weapons manufacturer and former Soviet military translator, he used his multiple companies to smuggle a ...
, an arms trafficker, who lived in Moscow and had a deal involving selling arms to Colombian terrorists. Bharara argued that this aggressive approach is necessary in post 9/11 era. Defense lawyers criticized the stings, calling Bharara's office "the Southern District of the World." They also argued that American citizens would not appreciate other countries' treating them in these ways. Countries have not always rushed to cooperate, according to a review of secret State Department cables released by WikiLeaks. On April 13, 2013, Bharara was on a list released by the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
of Americans banned from entering the country over their alleged human rights violations. The list was a direct response to the so-called Magnitsky list revealed by the United States the day before.


Actions against financial crime


Insider trading

In 2012, Bharara was featured on a cover of ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street. From 2009 to 2012 (and ongoing), Bharara's office oversaw the Galleon Group insider trading investigation against
Raj Rajaratnam Rajakumaran Rajaratnam (born June 15, 1957) is a Sri Lankan-American former hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm. On October 16, 2009, he was arrested by the FBI for insider trading ...
,
Rajat Gupta Rajat Kumar Gupta (; born ) is an Indian-American businessman and convicted felon who, as CEO, was the first foreign-born managing director of management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003. In 2012, he was convicted for insider ...
,
Anil Kumar Anil Kumar (born 1958) is an Indian-American former senior partner and director at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he co-founded McKinsey's offices in Silicon Valley and India and created its Internet practice (representi ...
and more than 60 others. Rajaratnam was convicted at trial on 14 counts related to insider trading. Bharara is said to have "reaffirmed his office’s leading role in pursuing corporate crime with this landmark
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
case, which relied on aggressive prosecutorial methods and unprecedented tactics." In 2011 when hedge fund portfolio manager Chip Skowron pleaded guilty to insider trading, Bharara said: "Chip Skowron is the latest example of a portfolio manager willing to pay for proprietary, non-public information that gave him an illegal trading edge over the average investor. The integrity of our market is damaged by people who engage in insider trading...." Skowron was sent to prison for five years. Bharara has often spoken publicly and written an op-ed about the culture surrounding corporate crime and its effect on market confidence and business risk. After 85 straight convictions for insider-trading cases, he finally lost one on July 17, 2014, when a jury acquitted Rajaratnam's younger brother, Rengan, of such charges."The Limits of the Law in Insider Trading"
''The New York Times'' (July 18, 2014). Retrieved March 18, 2015.
On October 22, 2015, Bharara dropped seven insider-trading cases two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to a review a lower court decision that would make it harder to pursue wrongful-trading cases. The conviction of Michael S. Steinberg was dropped; Steinberg was the highest-ranking officer of
SAC Capital Advisors SAC Capital Advisors was a group of hedge funds founded by Steven A. Cohen in 1992. The firm employed approximately 800 people
who had previously been convicted of insider trading. In 2013, Bharara announced criminal and civil charges against one of the largest and most successful hedge-fund firms in the United States, SAC Capital Advisors LP, and its founder Steven A. Cohen. At USD$1.8 billion, it was the largest settlement ever for insider trading, and the firm also agreed to close down.


Citibank

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
was charged numerous times by Bharara's office and other federal prosecutors. In 2012, the bank reached a settlement with Bharara's office to pay $158 million for misleading the government into insuring risky loans. Bharara also made a criminal inquiry into Citibank's Mexican unit. In 2014, Citi settled with federal prosecutors for $7 billion for ignoring warnings on risky loans.


JPMorgan Chase

Almost as soon as he took office, Bharara began investigating the role of
Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ ...
's primary banker,
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...
, in the fraud. Eventually Bharara and JPMorgan reached a deferred prosecution agreement that called for JPMorgan to forfeit $1.7 billion, the largest forfeiture ever demanded from a bank in American history—to settle charges that it and its predecessors violated the
Bank Secrecy Act The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (BSA), also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, is a U.S. law requiring financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies in detecting and preventing money lau ...
by failing to alert authorities about Madoff's actions. His office also handled the criminal prosecutions of several employees at Madoff’s firm and their associates, who were convicted by a jury on March 24, 2014.


Bank of America

In 2012, federal prosecutors under Bharara sued
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
for $1 billion, accusing the bank of carrying out a mortgage scheme that defrauded the government during the depths of the financial crisis. In 2013, the jury found Bank of America liable for selling
Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...
and
Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the finding of fact by the jury that low-quality mortgages were supplied by Countrywide to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac supported only "intentional breach of contract," not fraud. The action, for civil fraud, relied on provisions of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. The decision turned on lack of intent to defraud at the time the contract to supply mortgages was made.


Russian money laundering fraud

In 2013, Bharara began investigating a
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...
fraud scheme in New York City operated by a Russian criminal organization. The alleged fraud links a $230 million Russian tax refund fraud scheme from 2008 to eleven U.S. real estate corporations. The underlying tax refund fraud was first discovered by whistleblower and Russian lawyer
Sergei Magnitsky Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky (russian: Сергeй Леонидович Магнитский, ; 8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009) was a Ukrainian-born Russian tax advisor responsible for exposing corruption and misconduct by Russian gover ...
, who was arrested under tax evasion charges, and within a year he was found dead in his prison cell—a suspicious circumstance. Bharara and his office stated that some of the illicit proceeds were laundered in the U.S. by purchasing luxury
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
real estate, including a 35-story block that has a pool, roof terrace,
Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...
and indoor golf course. One of the companies named in the complaint, Prevezon, at the time had assets that included four condo units in the Financial District, each valued close to or in excess of $1 million, a $4.4-million condo at 250 East 49th Street in Turtle Bay, and an unknown amount of funds on deposit in eight separate
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
accounts in the name of different limited-liability companies registered in New York. In April 2013, Bharara gave the authorization to the FBI for the raid on
Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov Alimzhan Tursunovich Tokhtakhounov (russian: Алимжан Турсунович Тохтахунов; born 1 January 1949) is a Russian businessman, suspected criminal, and former sportsman. He is accused in relations with organized crime and b ...
's apartment in Trump Tower. In April 2013, the case was personal for Bharara after Russia included him on the list 18 U.S. individuals banned from entering Russia in retaliation to the
Magnitsky act The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in ...
. On September 10, 2013, with help from the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
’s Homeland Security Investigations and
Cyrus Vance Jr. Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. (born June 14, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the District Attorney of New York County, New York, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney. He was previously a principal partner at the law ...
, the District Attorney for New York County, Bharara's office announced that they had filed a civil forfeiture complaint, freezing $24 million in assets. If the court upholds the complaint, the government will seize the assets.


Holocaust survivor fund fraud

During his first year in office, Bharara charged 17 managers and employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims for defrauding Germany $42.5 million by creating thousands of false benefit applications for people who did not suffer in
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
. The fraud, which had been going on for 16 years, was related to the $400 million that Germany pays out each year to Holocaust survivors.


Art fraud

During his time in office, Bharara oversaw multiple notable art-fraud cases including the $80-million Knoedler Gallery case, which was the largest art-fraud scheme in American history involving forged masterworks of artists
Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...
,
Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also inc ...
and others. Bharara brought charges in the $2.5-million case of John Re, a man from
East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...
, who sold forged artwork by
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionism, abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splas ...
and othersEmma G. Fitzsimmons, "Seller of Art Fakes Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud," New York Times, Dec. 1, 2014 and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.T.E. McMorrow, "Sentenced in Fake-Pollock Scam; John D. Re gets five years from federal judge for bilking unwary buyers," East Hampton Star, May 14, 2015 Also Bharara charged Eric Spoutz, an American
art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...
, with selling hundreds of fake paintings falsely attributed to American masters. Spoutz was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit the $1.45 million he made from the scheme and to pay $154,100 in restitution."Forging Papers to Sell Fake Art," Federal Bureau of Investigation (press release), April 6, 2017


Toyota deferred prosecution

In March 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office charged
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
by information with one count of wire fraud for lying to consumers about two safety-related issues in the company’s cars, each of which caused unintended acceleration. Under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that Toyota entered into the same day the information was filed, Toyota agreed to pay a $1.2-billion financial penalty, the largest criminal penalty ever imposed on an auto manufacturer. The company also admitted the truth of a detailed statement of facts accompanying the DPA, and agreed to submit to a three-year monitorship.


Public corruption

Bharara has said that "there is no prosecutor’s office in the state that takes more seriously the responsibility to root out public corruption in Albany and anywhere else that we might find it, and I think our record speaks for itself." During his tenure, Bharara has charged several current and former elected officials in public corruption cases, including Senator Vincent Leibell, Senator Hiram Monserrate, NYC Councilman
Larry Seabrook Larry B. Seabrook is a former New York City Councilman from District 12 in New York City which covers the Co-op City, Williamsbridge, Wakefield, Edenwald, Baychester, and Eastchester sections of the Northeast Bronx, from 2002 until 2012. A ...
, and Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi. Bharara’s office uncovered an alleged corruption ring involving New York State Senator
Carl Kruger Carl Kruger (born December 3, 1949) is an American convicted felon and politician from New York. A Democrat from Brooklyn, he represented District 27 in the New York State Senate. Kruger was first elected to the State Senate in 1994 and later bec ...
. In April 2012, Kruger was sentenced to seven years in prison. In February 2011, Bharara announced the indictment of five consultants working on New York City’s electronic payroll and timekeeping project, CityTime, for misappropriating more than $80 million from the project. The investigation has expanded with five additional defendants being charged, including a consultant who allegedly received more than $5 million in illegal kickbacks on the projects. In early 2013, Bharara oversaw the conviction of
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...
officer
Gilberto Valle ''United States v. Valle'' was a criminal case in the Southern District of New York concerning Gilberto Valle, a New York City Police Department officer who had discussed on online fetish chatrooms his fantasies about kidnapping, torturing, rap ...
, who was part of an alleged plot to rape and then cook and eat (cannibalize) women. Bharara and his team argued that Valle had done more than hypothesize, think, or speculate (in online networks where such fantasies are discussed), but had moved on from being a possible danger to others to the criminal planning phase and had even visited the street where one of the women lived, at the behest of another defendant. However, the defense and others who objected to the verdict argued that all he had done was fantasize, not plan, and that such thoughts or online posts, however twisted, were still protected. The defense team (Robert Baum and Julia L. Gatto) may ask the judge to set aside the verdict, or may appeal. If he does keep the felony conviction and is sentenced, Valle would automatically no longer serve in law enforcement. On April 2, 2013, Bharara unsealed federal corruption charges against New York State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, New York City Councilman
Dan Halloran Daniel J. Halloran III (born March 16, 1971) is a former member of the New York City Council. He was indicted on corruption charges in 2013, did not run for reelection, was convicted in July 2014, and is currently back in the private sector on L ...
and several other Republican party officials. The federal complaint alleged that Smith attempted to secure a spot on the Republican ballot in the 2013 New York City mayoral election through bribery.


New York Moreland Commission

In 2014, Bharara's office began an inquiry into Gov.
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
's decision to end the work of the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel. After a ''New York Times'' report documenting Cuomo's staff's involvement with the commission and subsequent statements by commissioners defending the Governor, Bharara warned of obstruction of justice and witness tampering.


Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

Bharara made national headlines after investigating 11-term Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Sheldon Silver Sheldon Silver (February 13, 1944 – January 24, 2022) was an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, and convicted felon from New York City who served as speaker of the New York State Assembly from 1994 to 2015. A native of Manhattan's ...
for taking millions of dollars in payoffs, leading to Silver's arrest in January 2015. Silver was subsequently convicted on all counts, triggering his automatic expulsion from the Assembly. Silver was replaced by the first African-American speaker Carl Heastie. During the Silver prosecution, Judge Valerie Caproni criticized Bharara's public statements, writing that "while castigating politicians in Albany for playing fast and loose with the ethical rules that govern their conduct, Bharara strayed so close to the edge of the rules governing his own conduct."


Gang crimes and organized crime

From 2009 to 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has convicted more than 1,000 of approximately 1,300 people charged in 52 large-scale takedowns of street drug and drug trafficking organizations. On lowering violent crime rates, Bharara has said, "You can measure the number of people arrested and the number of shootings, but success is when you lift the sense of intimidation and fear." Bharara also oversaw the largest criminal sweep of gangs in Newburgh, New York, working with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security's
Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
and local law enforcement agencies to bring charges against members of the Newburgh Bloods and Newburgh Latin Kings gangs, among others. In 2010, Bharara oversaw the prosecution of eight longshoremen on charges of participation in a multimillion-dollar
cocaine trafficking Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
enterprise along the Waterfront, operated by a Panamanian drug organization. In January 2011, Bharara's office participated in a multi-state organized crime takedown, charging 26 members of the
Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as th ...
with
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...
and murder, as well as narcotics and firearms charges. This action was part of a coordinated effort that also involved arrests in Brooklyn;
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...
, and
Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
; according to the FBI, this was the largest single-day operation against the Mafia in U.S. history. In August 2016, Bharara's office charged 46 leaders, members, and associates of La Cosa Nostra—including four out of the Five Families (Gambino,
Genovese Genovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa. Its Italian plural form '' Genovesi'' has also developed into a surname. People * Alfred Genovese (1931–2011), American oboist * Alfredo Genovese (born 1964), Argentine art ...
, Lucchese, and Bonanno)—in an extensive racketeering conspiracy. At a news conference on September 7, 2016 following the arrests of Shimen Liebowitz and Aharon Goldberg, 2
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
s implicated in the Kiryas Joel murder conspiracy, Bharara called it a "chilling plot," wherein the plotters "met repeatedly to plan the kidnapping and to pay more than $55,000 to an individual they believed would carry it out."Gajanan, Mahita (September 7, 2016)
"Rabbi and Orthodox Jewish Man Plotted to Kidnap and Murder Husband to Get Divorce for his Wife, Officials Say"
''Time''
The rabbis were convicted and sentenced to prison in 2017.


Terrorism prosecutions

Under Bharara, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York "won a string of major terrorism trials." Bharara was an advocate of trying terrorists in civilian federal courts rather than in the
military commissions Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodi ...
at the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Gua ...
; he contrasted his office's record of successfully convicting terrorists with the lengthy, secretive, and inefficient Guantanamo practice. In a 2014 interview, Bharara said the historical record would show that "greater transparency and openness and legitimacy" leads to "more serious and appropriate punishment." Citing his success in terrorism trials, Bharara stated: "These trials have been difficult, but they have been fair and open and prompt...in an American civilian courtroom, the American people and all the victims of terrorism can be vindicated without sacrificing our principles."Benjamin Wesier
Life Sentence for British Cleric Who Helped Plan 1998 Kidnappings in Yemen
''New York Times'' (January 9, 2015).
Some of the high-profile terrorist figures convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment during Bharara's term include
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith Sulaiman Abu Ghaith ( ar, سليمان بوغيث; born 14 December 1965) is a Kuwaiti regarded as one of al-Qaeda's spokesmen. He is married to one of Osama bin Laden's daughters. In 2013, Gaith was arrested in Jordan and extradited to the U ...
, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law; Khalid al-Fawwaz and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Osama bin Laden aides who plotted the
1998 United States embassy bombings The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam ...
that killed 224 people; Mostafa Kamel Mostafa, a cleric who masterminded the 1998 kidnappings of 16 American, British and Australian tourists in Yemen; and Faisal Shahzad, the attempted Times Square bomber.Andy Sullivan & Mark Hosenball
Top U.S. prosecutor says he is fired by Trump administration
Reuters (March 11, 2017).
Bharara also won a conviction and 25-year sentence for international arms smuggler
Viktor Bout Viktor Anatolyevich Bout (; russian: link=no, Виктор Анатольевич Бут; born 13 January 1967) is a Russian arms dealer. A weapons manufacturer and former Soviet military translator, he used his multiple companies to smuggle a ...
.


Cybercrime

In June 2012, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published an op-ed written by Bharara about the threat posed to private industry by
cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing t ...
and encouraged corporate leaders to take preventive measures and create contingency plans. Bharara's tenure saw a number of notable prosecutions for
computer hacking A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
: *Bharara's office worked with Hector Xavier Monsegur ("Sabu"), a computer hacker who later became a federal informant. Because Monsegur's cooperation "helped the authorities infiltrate the shadowy world of computer hacking and disrupt at least 300 cyberattacks on targets that included the United States military," Bharara's office recommended a greatly reduced sentence to the judge, and in 2014 Monsegur was freed with time served. *In May 2014, Bharara's office was part of an international crackdown, led by the FBI and authorities in 19 countries, on the " Blackshades"
creepware In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server o ...
hacking, in which hackers illicitly access users' systems remotely to steal information. *In November 2015, Bharara's office charged three Israeli men in a 23-count indictment that alleged that they ran an extensive computer hacking and fraud scheme that targeted
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...
, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', and ten other companies. According to prosecutors, the operation generated "hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profit" and exposed the personal information of more than 100 million people. *In May 2016, Bharara's office secured a guilty plea from Alonzo Knowles, a Bahamian man who had hacked into the email accounts of celebrities and athletes in order to steal unreleased movie and television scripts, unreleased music, "nude and intimate images and videos," financial documents, and other personal information. Knowles was sentenced to five years in prison. *In November 2016, Bharara's office filed charges against a
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
man, Jonathan Powell, for hacking into thousands of email accounts at Pace University and another university and mining those accounts for users' confidential information. *In December 2016, Bharara's office charged three Chinese citizens with hacking into the system of New York law firms advising on
mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspec ...
, and making more than $4 million by trading on information they gained. *Also in December 2016, Bharara's office charged an executive of the Pakistani-based company
Axact Axact ( ur, ) is a Pakistan software company that runs numerous websites selling fraudulent academic degrees. The company also owns the media company BOL Network. History Axact was founded by Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, who serves as its chairma ...
with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection. Prosecutors say that the company carried out a $140 million
diploma mill A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fake ...
that defrauded thousands of consumers across the world. Bharara moved to shut down several of the world's largest Internet poker companies. He prosecuted several payment processors for Internet poker companies, securing guilty pleas for
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...
. In April 2011, Bharara charged 11 founding members of internet gambling companies and their associates involved with pay processing with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling under the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) is United States legislation regulating online gambling. It was added as Title VIII to the SAFE Port Act (found at ) which otherwise regulated port security. The UIGEA prohibits ga ...
(UIGEA). The case is ''
United States v. Scheinberg ''United States v. Scheinberg'', No. 1:10-cr-00336 (2011), is a United States federal criminal case against the founders of the three largest online poker companies, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cereus (Absolute Poker/Ultimatebet), and a han ...
''.


Devyani Khobragade incident

Bharara and his office came to the limelight again in December 2013 with the arrest of
Devyani Khobragade {{Infobox person , name = Devyani Khobragade , image = , birth_date = , birth_place = Tarapur, Maharashtra, India , death_date = , death_place = , monuments = , nationality = Indian , other_names = , education = , alma_mater = ...
, the Deputy Consul General of India in New York, who was accused by prosecutors of submitting false work visa documents for her housekeeper and paying the housekeeper "far less than the minimum legal wage." The ensuing incident caused protests from the Indian government and a rift in India–United States relations; Indians expressed outrage that Khobragade was strip-searched (a routine practice for all
U.S. Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...
arrestees) and held in the general inmate population. The Indian government retaliated for what it viewed as the mistreatment of its consular official by revoking the ID cards and other privileges of U.S. consular personnel and their families in India and removing security barriers in front of the
U.S. Embassy in New Delhi The Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Republic of India. The Embassy is headed by the U.S. Ambassador to India. The embassy complex is situated on a 28-acre p ...
. Khobragade was subject to prosecution at the time of her arrest because she had only
consular immunity Consular immunity privileges are described in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 (VCCR).http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_2_1963.pdf Consular immunity offers protections similar to diplomatic immunity ...
(which gives one
immunity from prosecution Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...
only for acts committed in connection with official duties) and not the more extensive diplomatic immunity.Tara McKelvey
Who, What, Why: Does Devyani Khobragade have diplomatic immunity?
BBC News (December 19, 2013).
After her arrest, the Indian government moved Khobragade to the Indian's mission to the United Nations, upgrading her status and conferring diplomatic immunity on her; as a result, the federal indictment against Khobragade was dismissed in March 2014, although the door was left open to refiling of charges. A new indictment was filed against Khobragade, but by that point she had left the country. Speaking at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
during its 2014 Class Day ceremony, Bharara said that it was the
U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, rather than his office, which had initiated and investigated proceedings against Khobragade and who asked his office to prosecute.


''Reason'' magazine subpoena

During Bharara's term, the U.S. Attorney's Office investigated six Internet comments made on the website of ''
Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...
'' magazine in which anonymous readers made comments about U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the Southern District of New York like "Its icjudges like these that should be taken out back and shot" and "Why waste ammunition? Wood chippers get the message across clearly." (The comments were made under an article in the magazine of Forrest's sentencing of
Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...
owner
Ross William Ulbricht Ross William Ulbricht (born March 27, 1984) is an American serving life imprisonment for creating and operating the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. The site operated as a hidden service on the Tor network an ...
to life in prison without parole.) In June 2015, a
federal grand jury Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought ...
issued a subpoena to the
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
magazine, demanding that it provide identifying information for the commenters. Following the issuance of the subpoena, federal prosecutors applied for an order from a
U.S. magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and cond ...
forbidding the magazine from disclosing the existence of the subpoena to the commenters. The subpoena became public after being obtained by Popehat's Ken White. The nondisclosure order caused controversy, with critics saying that it infringed the constitutional right to free speechStephanie Clifford
Prosecutors' Secrecy Orders on Subpoenas Stir Constitutional Questions
''New York Times'' (January 1, 2016).
and questioning whether the comments were actually serious threats or merely hyperbolic " trolling." Federal prosecutors dropped the matter as moot. ''Reason'' magazine editors Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie characterized the subpoena and nondisclosure order as "suppressing the speech of journalistic outlets known to be critical of government overreach."


Dismissal

Following the 2016 election, Bharara met with then- president-elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
at Trump Tower in November 2016. Bharara said that Trump asked him to remain as U.S. Attorney, and he agreed to stay on. On March 10, 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered all 46 remaining
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
s who were holdovers from the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
, including Bharara, to submit letters of resignation. Bharara declined to resign and was fired the next day. In a statement, Bharara said that serving as U.S. Attorney was "the greatest honor of my professional life" and that "one hallmark of justice is absolute independence and that was my touchstone every day that I served." He was succeeded by his deputy, Joon Kim, as acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There were expressions of dismay over the firing from Howard Dean, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and
Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as ...
to New York State Republican Assemblymen Steve McLaughlin and Brian Kolb, the Assembly Minority Leader. It has been reported that in spring 2017, Trump's personal attorney Marc Kasowitz told associates that he had been personally responsible for getting Bharara fired, saying he had warned Trump, "This guy is going to get you." Bharara said a series of conversational phone calls from Trump made him increasingly uncomfortable about the appearance of potential improper contact between his office and Trump's. He claims he finally refused to take a phone call from Trump, and was dismissed 22 hours later.


Later career

On April 1, 2017, Bharara joined
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...
as a distinguished scholar in residence. In September 2017 he started a weekly
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
called "Stay Tuned with Preet", which features long-form interviews with prominent guests. In 2018, Bharara started a second podcast with former New Jersey Attorney General and fellow law professor
Anne Milgram Anne Melissa Milgram (born December 1, 1970) is an American attorney and academic who serves as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Milgram was previously the 57th Attorney General of New Jersey from 2007 to 2010. Early ...
, "Cafe Insider", which also provides legal commentary on the latest news. After Milgram was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as Administrator of the
Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
, she was replaced as co-host with former U.S. Attorney for the
Northern District of Alabama The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (in case citations, N.D. Ala.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are ap ...
Joyce Vance Joyce Alene White Vance is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017. She was one of the first five U.S. Attorneys, and the first female U.S. Attorney, nominated by Preside ...
.


Portrayal in fiction

The Showtime television series '' Billions'' gives a fictional portrayal of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York's prosecution of financial crimes. The series is loosely based on the investigation of hedge fund manager
Steven A. Cohen Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball since September 14, 2020, owning roughly 97.2% of the team. He is the founder of hedge fund Point72 Asset Manageme ...
of
S.A.C. Capital Advisors SAC Capital Advisors was a group of hedge funds founded by Steven A. Cohen in 1992. The firm employed approximately 800 people
by Bharara's office.Liz Calvario
'Billions' Creators React To Trump Firing U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Offer Him Gig On Showtime Series
''Deadline Hollywood'' (March 11, 2017).
The show's fictional SDNY U.S. Attorney Charles "Chuck" Rhoades Jr., played by
Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...
, was partly inspired by Bharara.


Personal life

Bharara is married to Dalya Bharara, a non-practicing lawyer. They live in Scarsdale, New York with their three children. In interviews, Bharara "has reflected on his family's diverse religious heritage: Sikh (his father), Hindu (his mother), Muslim (his wife's father) and Jewish (his wife's grandmother)."Alex Altman, Randy James & M.J. Stephey
9/11 Prosecutor Preet Bharara
''Time'' (November 13, 2009).
Bharara became a naturalized United States citizen in 1980.Roger Parloff
Nominee for Manhattan U.S. Attorney: A nonpartisan star
''Fortune'' (August 25, 2009).
Bharara is a registered Democrat but "not considered a strong partisan." His nomination to the U.S. Attorney's post in 2009 was welcomed across the political spectrum as Bharara was regarded as an "apolitical and fair-minded" figure. Bharara's younger brother Vinit "Vinnie" Bharara, also a graduate of Columbia Law School, is an entrepreneur. Vinnie Bharara and
Marc Lore Marc Eric Lore (pronounced LorEE, born May 16, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and NBA owner. In December 2021, CNBC reported that Lore is now the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Wonder Group. From 2016 to 2021, he wa ...
co-founded Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com, which they sold in 2010 to Amazon.com for $540 million. Bharara traces his desire to become a lawyer back to the seventh grade, which was when he read the play '' Inherit the Wind''. In 2012, Bharara was named by ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World," and by '' India Abroad'' as its 2011 Person of the Year. Bharara is a lifelong
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
fan. Springsteen shouted, "This is for Preet Bharara!" before launching into his song " Death to My Hometown" at an October 2012 concert in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
. In 2013, Bharara delivered the commencement address at
Fordham Law School Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test taker ...
in New York and received an honorary
Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...
. Later that week, Bharara delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Columbia Law School, during his 20th reunion year. In 2014, Bharara delivered the commencement address at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law also in New York and spoke at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
's Class Day Ceremony. In 2016, Bharara delivered the commencement address at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. In 2018, Bharara delivered the commencement address at
St. John's University School of Law St. John's University School of Law is a Roman Catholic law school in Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States, affiliated with St. John's University. The School of Law was founded in 1925, and confers Juris Doctor degrees and degrees for Maste ...
in New York. In 2022, Bharara delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Columbia Law School. Bharara was included in ''Bloomberg Markets Magazine''s 2012 "50 Most Influential" list as well as ''
Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
''s 2012 and 2013 annual "New Establishment" lists.


Works

* *


See also

* Indians in the New York City metropolitan region *
Legal affairs of Donald Trump In 2016, Trump was elected as U.S. President. Numerous legal affairs persisted during and after his presidency. For example, between October 2021 and July 2022 alone, the Republican National Committee paid more than $2 million to attorneys ...


References


External links

*
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Official Website

NY Attorney Data

DealBook

''Stay Tuned with Preet''
from
WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bharara, Preet 1968 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American people of Punjabi descent American podcasters American Sikhs Columbia Law School alumni Harvard College alumni Indian emigrants to the United States Insider trading New York (state) Democrats People associated with Gibson Dunn People from Eatontown, New Jersey People from Firozpur People from Scarsdale, New York United States Attorneys for the Southern District of New York