Charles Petros Kocoras (born March 12, 1938) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. It is one of the busiest federal trial courts in the Uni ...

Education and career

Born to Greek immigrants in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Kocoras grew up speaking

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

in his home. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

in 1961 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

DePaul University College of Law DePaul University College of Law is the law school of DePaul University, a private Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 125 full- and part-time faculty members and enrolls more than 500 students in its Juri ...

in 1969. He served in the

Illinois Army National Guard The Illinois Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. With the Illinois Air National Guard it forms the Illinois National Guard. National coordination of various state National Guard unit ...

from 1961 to 1967 and became a sergeant. He was in private practice in Chicago from 1969 to 1971, and from 1979 to 1980. He was the First

Assistant United States 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 gov ...

of the Northern District of Illinois from 1971 to 1977. He has served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

of the John Marshall Law School since 1975. He was Chairman of the

Illinois Commerce Commission The Illinois Commerce Commission is a quasi-judicial tribunal that regulates public utility services in the U.S. state of Illinois. The mission of the ICC is "to pursue an appropriate balance between the interest of consumers and existing and em ...

from 1977 to 1979.

Federal judicial service

On June 2, 1980, Kocoras was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Alfred Younges Kirkland Sr. Kocoras was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 29, 1980, and received his commission on September 30, 1980. He served as

Chief Judge Chief judge may refer to: In lower or circuit courts The highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. * Chief judge (Australia) * Chief judge (United States) In supreme courts Some of Chief ...

from 2002 to 2006, assuming senior status on June 30, 2006.

Notable cases

Kocoras presided over the September 2006 suit brought by bulk email company e360 Insight against the anti-spam organization

Spamhaus The Spamhaus Project is an international organisation based in the Principality of Andorra, founded in 1998 by Steve Linford to track email spammers and spam-related activity. The name ''spamhaus'', a pseudo-German expression, was coined by Lin ...

. He awarded e360 a

default judgement Default may refer to: Law * Default (law), the failure to do something required by law ** Default (finance), failure to satisfy the terms of a loan obligation or failure to pay back a loan ** Default judgment, a binding judgment in favor of ...

totaling $11.7m in damages, an amount reduced to just $3 on appeal. In January 2014, Kocoras sentenced Ty Warner, the billionaire sole owner of Ty Inc. (maker of Beanie Babies and other plush toys), for failing to declare and pay income tax on earnings in a Swiss bank account. Warner paid $80 million, including $75 million in interest and penalties, but was sentenced to no jail time due to the judge's respect for his exceptionally generous ongoing philanthropy.Smith, Brya
"Behind the Beanie Babies: The Secret Life of Ty Warner"
'Chicago' Magazine, April 21, 2014.

References

Sources

* 1938 births Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter American people of Greek descent United States Army non-commissioned officers DePaul University alumni DePaul University College of Law alumni Lawyers from Chicago Assistant United States attorneys 21st-century American judges Illinois National Guard personnel {{US-federal-judge-stub

Education and career

Federal judicial service

Notable cases

See also

References

Sources