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United States Attorney

The federal prosecutor appointed for each judicial district under 28 U.S.C. 541, whose 2006 removals, interim appointments and district cases run through PROMIS, BCCI, the Contra drug cases and the Epstein agreement.

Also known as
United States Attorneys, U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorneys, US Attorney, US Attorneys
Location
Washington, D.C.
Mentioned on
238 pages
Last edited

The United States Attorney is the federal prosecutor appointed for each judicial district to conduct the government's criminal prosecutions and civil litigation there. The statute provides for one U.S. Attorney in each judicial district, except that a single U.S. Attorney serves both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, so that there are 93 U.S. Attorneys serving 94 judicial districts.12 The office and the people who held it appear in the PROMIS software case, the Contra and CIA drug inquiries, the BCCI and BNL bank cases, the Mariposa County cluster, the Epstein prosecutions, the Mena money-laundering inquiry, the Letelier murder trial and the 2006 removals.

Statute and appointment

The President appoints each United States attorney with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a four-year term. Each continues in office until a successor qualifies and is "subject to removal by the President."1 Assistant United States attorneys are appointed by the Attorney General and are subject to removal by him.3 Under 28 U.S.C. 547 each United States attorney, within his district, prosecutes offenses against the United States and handles the civil matters in which the government is a party.4 The Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility describe U.S. attorneys as the government's chief law enforcement officers in their districts, under the Attorney General, who has statutory authority over the litigation of every agency.2 The report describes presidential discretion to remove as "broad but not unlimited," citing Parsons v. United States, 167 U.S. 324, 343 (1897), and says that a removal for an illegal or improper purpose would be contrary to the "public good" and therefore impermissible.5

In the period of the 2006 removals, the FBI background investigation of a candidate was forwarded through the Executive Office for United States Attorneys to the Department's White House liaison, and candidates were usually recommended by senators of the President's party. While a nomination was pending, the home-state senators approved or disapproved the nominee on a form printed on blue paper, and a disapproval or a missing approval affected how the Senate Judiciary Committee handled the nomination.6

Interim appointments under 28 U.S.C. 546

Before 2006, a vacancy was filled by the first assistant as acting U.S. Attorney for up to 210 days, or by an interim appointee named by the Attorney General for up to 120 days. After the 120 days the district court could reappoint the interim or make its own appointment, until the Senate confirmed a presidential nominee.2 In March 2006 Congress amended the statute at the Department's request, in section 502 of Public Law 109-177, so that the district court dropped out of the process, the 120-day limit was removed, and an Attorney General appointee could serve until a confirmed successor took office.7 Public Law 110-34, section 3, enacted June 14, 2007, repealed that change and restored the 120-day limit and the district court's power of appointment.8

The current text of section 546 provides that the Attorney General may appoint a United States attorney for a district where the office is vacant, may not appoint a person whom the Senate refused to confirm, and that the appointee may serve until a presidentially appointed successor qualifies or 120 days pass. If the appointment expires, the district court may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled.9

The Southern District of New York applied that second step in 2025. Its interim appointee, Walter J. Clayton III, known as Jay Clayton, had been appointed by the Attorney General. The court announced that under section 546(d) it had appointed him United States Attorney effective August 20, 2025, after the interim term expired on or about August 19.10 On December 1, 2025 the Third Circuit upheld a district court ruling that Alina Habba's service as acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey was unlawful. The court's reasoning, as reported, was that "the FVRA's nomination bar prevents her from assuming the role of Acting U.S. Attorney," and the statute the court relied on was the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.11

The 2006 and 2007 removals

Seven U.S. Attorneys were told to resign on December 7, 2006, at the direction of senior Department officials. Two others had been asked to resign earlier in the year: Todd Graves of the Western District of Missouri on January 24, and H.E. "Bud" Cummins of the Eastern District of Arkansas on June 14. The nine were Graves, Cummins, Daniel Bogden of the District of Nevada, Paul Charlton of the District of Arizona, Margaret Chiara of the Western District of Michigan, David Iglesias of the District of New Mexico, Carol Lam of the Southern District of California, John McKay of the Western District of Washington and Kevin Ryan of the Northern District of California.12

The Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility opened a joint investigation in March 2007 and conducted about ninety interviews. Monica Goodling, the Department's former White House liaison, declined to be interviewed and testified before the House Judiciary Committee on May 23, 2007, under an immunity grant.12 The joint report, issued in September 2008 as An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, concluded that the selection and removal process was "fundamentally flawed," and that Alberto Gonzales and Paul McNulty "failed to adequately supervise" it.13

The report concluded that complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about Iglesias's handling of voter fraud and public corruption cases caused his removal, and that the other reasons offered after the removal were after-the-fact rationalizations. It found that Kyle Sampson placed Iglesias on the removal list based on those complaints and on Senator Pete Domenici's "loss of confidence" in him, and that the Department removed Iglesias without any inquiry into his handling of the cases.13 For Graves, the report found that the primary reason was complaints from the staff of Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri. The director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Michael Battle, who placed the call telling Graves to resign, said he did so at Goodling's direction and that she did not provide him with the reasons.14 Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, Goodling and Domenici declined to be interviewed, and the White House declined to provide its internal e-mails and documents about the removals.15 Goodling was the only official who said she recommended Bogden's removal, and she denied that her recommendation was the cause of it.16

District of Columbia

The District of Columbia office (U.S. Attorney's office) also prosecutes local crime in the Superior Court, a function no other U.S. Attorney's office performs, and its history is the starting point of the PROMIS record. Thomas A. Flannery was United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1969 to 1971, nominated to the federal bench in November 1971 and confirmed on December 1, 1971, according to the Federal Judicial Center's directory.17 In 1969 his office commissioned the case-tracking system that became PROMIS. It was funded by a $60,000 grant from the LEAA, administered through Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, and designed by a team that included Joan E. Jacoby of the Office of Crime Analysis of the District of Columbia and Charles R. Work, then deputy chief of the office's Superior Court Division.1819 The system was deployed on January 1, 1971.18

Harold H. Titus Jr. succeeded Flannery as United States Attorney under President Richard Nixon. In February 1973, during his tenure, the decision was made to upgrade PROMIS to a real-time online system capable of tracking more than 160 variables per case.18 The office's civil chief was Royce Lamberth. In 1987, weeks before joining the federal bench, Lamberth delivered a transcript of Judge Bason's oral ruling in the INSLAW dispute to the judge chairing the panel that selected Bason's successor, according to the House Judiciary Committee's report on the affair.18

Earl Silbert held the office from 1974 to 1979, the period of the 1976 investigation of the murder of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt; the office assigned a prosecutor from its major crimes unit, Eugene Propper, then an assistant United States attorney in Washington.202122 During the Letelier trial the witness Townley was held in the offices of the Major Crimes Unit, with the knowledge of Propper and E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.23 Joseph E. diGenova was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and served as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1983 to 1988.24 He held the office in December 1985, when a United States delegation went to Israel to pursue the investigation of Jonathan Pollard. Mark M. Richard recorded that in 1986 Leonard Garment informed diGenova and Richard that he was withdrawing from representing the Israeli officer Aviem Sella in the Pollard matter.25 In the summer of 1985 Barcella gave a legal opinion clearing a private shipment of Soviet-bloc rifles, machine guns and grenades, as the Hartford Courant reported in 1992.26

Southern District of New York

The district's office (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York) has had many holders. Robert Morgenthau, later the Manhattan District Attorney, was United States attorney for the district after his appointment by President John F. Kennedy.27 Rudolph Giuliani was nominated by President Reagan in 1983 as United States Attorney for the district, to the vacancy of John S. Martin Jr., and held the office through the 1980s.28 His office prosecuted the Hashemi Sting, the Customs undercover operation against arms sales to Iran that used Cyrus Hashemi as its principal informant.29 In 1990 Assistant United States Attorney Baruch Weiss prosecuted Ari Ben-Menashe for conspiracy to sell C-130 aircraft to Iran. Weiss told the press that Ben-Menashe was merely a translator for Israeli military intelligence from 1977 to 1987, and two defendants were acquitted, according to the Washington Post report of the verdict.30

Geoffrey Berman was the United States Attorney for the district from January 2018 until June 20, 2020. His office indicted Epstein in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges, and the office later charged Ghislaine Maxwell.31 On the night of June 19, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that Berman was stepping down and that the President would nominate Jay Clayton in his place, with Craig Carpenito, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, to serve in the interim, while the office was investigating Trump's lawyer Rudolph Giuliani. Berman answered that he had not resigned and would not quit; on June 20 Barr wrote that he had asked the President to remove him.3233 Clayton was sworn in as interim United States Attorney in April 2025 on appointment by the Attorney General.34 He was assigned, in November 2025, by Attorney General Pam Bondi, to investigate Epstein's dealings with named individuals, including Bill Clinton and Larry Summers.35

Southern District of Florida

The Southern District of Florida office (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida) was headed in 1988 by Dexter Lehtinen. The Department's bulletin for July 15, 1988 records that, effective June 17, 1988, he took the oath of office as Interim United States Attorney for the district.36 The Senate's 1992 report on BCCI calls him "the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Dexter Lehtinen," among the critics of the Justice Department's handling of the bank.37 In October 1988 the Miami office indicted members of a Jamaican posse, and Lehtinen was quoted on the first time a Jamaican drug gang had been indicted.38 Jonathan Beaty and S. C. Gwynne wrote in The Outlaw Bank that the former United States Attorney in Miami, Lehtinen, had a request to bring BCCI-related indictments in Miami that was held back.39

Alexander Acosta was the United States Attorney for the district when the office resolved the federal investigation of Epstein in 2007 and 2008. The Office of Professional Responsibility's report of November 2020 found that the office resolved the federal investigation through a state-based plea, and that Acosta "made the pivotal decision" to do so.40 The non-prosecution agreement was signed on September 24, 2007. Epstein pleaded guilty in state court on June 30, 2008.40 The report found that Acosta had "plenary authority" under federal law and Department policy to resolve the case as he deemed appropriate, and that the decision was not shown to have been motivated by improper factors. It found that Acosta did not engage in professional misconduct, while concluding that his decision to resolve the federal case through the Epstein non-prosecution agreement was "poor judgment." It also found that he elected to defer to the state on whether to notify victims of the state plea hearing.41 On July 10, 2019 Acosta told a press conference that the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office "was ready to allow Epstein to walk free with no jail time, nothing."42 Acosta submitted his resignation as Secretary of Labor on July 12, 2019.42

The report's five subjects were Acosta, Jeffrey Sloman, Matthew Menchel, Andrew Lourie and Ann Marie Villafana, the last of whom was the line prosecutor on the federal file.42 In early November 2006 a former U.S. Attorney for the district, who then represented Epstein, made an overture to Villafana on his behalf, a telephone call that Sloman joined.42 In 2019 the court in Doe v. United States wrote that "[p]articularly problematic was the Government's decision to conceal the existence of the NPA and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility."43 When Acosta left in June 2009 Sloman became Acting U.S. Attorney, and in January 2010 the Attorney General appointed him Interim U.S. Attorney; he left in June 2010, and the whole district office was formally recused from the Epstein matter in July and August 2011.44

The office also appears in the Contra period. Howard Teicher, a member of the National Security Council staff from 1982 to 1987, signed a declaration on January 31, 1995 in the Cardoen case in the Southern District of Florida, filed the next day with a defense motion. It stated: "Under CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, the CIA authorized, approved and assisted Cardoen in the manufacture and sale of cluster bombs and other munitions to Iraq."45 He had been retained in December 1994 by attorneys for Teledyne, a co-defendant, who prepared the declaration and faxed it to him.46 On November 8, 1996 the office, through United States Attorney William A. Keefer and Assistant United States Attorney Frank H. Tamen, filed a notice of corrective declaration, with a declaration of Teicher dated October 31, 1996. In it Teicher stated that the references in paragraphs 15 through 18 to what his files "will contain" were beliefs and "my best memory and belief," that he had not reviewed or indexed his files on leaving the NSC staff and had not seen most of them since 1987, that he was "not aware of any specific evidence that the United States government or any government official or agency took steps to help Cardoen obtain any U.S.-origin components for use in cluster bombs," and that paragraph 17, on an arrest of Carlos Cardoen, was otherwise incorrect.46

Middle District of Florida

The Tampa office, which sits in the Middle District of Florida, was headed from September 1988 to June 1993 by Robert Genzman, who succeeded Robert Merkle after Merkle resigned to run for the Senate.47 His first assistant from February 1989 was Greg Kehoe, previously an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of Florida.48 The Senate's 1992 report on BCCI recorded that in the fall of 1988 the Justice Department did not approve a RICO prosecution of the bank, "for reasons that were never explained to the Customs agents." Genzman told the subcommittee that RICO charges "would have complicated an already complicated case."49 The report wrote that "[t]he January 1990 plea agreement between BCCI and the U.S. Attorney in Tampa kept BCCI alive," and wrote that the Justice Department "stopped investigating BCCI entirely" soon after it.50 The office also appears in the sentencing, in Tampa, of Brandon Russell on January 9, 2018, at which United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez appeared for the government.51

Northern District of California

The San Francisco office was headed in the 1980s by Joseph Russoniello, United States Attorney for the district from 1982 to 1990 and again from 2008 to 2010.52 The Department's Inspector General recorded that in 1983 the office declined prosecution of Norwin Meneses in a tax case because of weak or insufficient evidence, and the Internal Revenue Service concurred.53 In February 1987 the United States Attorney's offices, along with the DEA and FBI, agreed that Meneses could serve as a source in the Los Angeles investigation of Danilo Blandon, provided he pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge based on his trafficking in San Francisco. In July 1987 prosecution was declined in the Los Angeles investigation and that case was closed, partly because of Meneses's unwillingness to cooperate.54 Gary Webb wrote that Russoniello's office rejected the Meneses case in February 1987.55

A letter that Ben Kalka signed in April 2000, in connection with a sentence reduction, is described by Cheri Seymour as stating that he had not obtained his precursors from the government, and as written by William Shockley, whom she describes as a United States Attorney in San Francisco.56

The Customs Service opened a criminal investigation in 1993 into whether Phil Zimmermann had violated export controls when Pretty Good Privacy traveled abroad, and the investigation was run out of the office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. Zimmermann faced the prospect of indictment for three years.57

Eastern District of California

The Eastern District of California covers Fresno, Sacramento and Mariposa County, the setting of the "Queen's Accident." David F. Levi was United States Attorney for the district from 1986 to 1990, after serving as an assistant from 1983 to 1986, and became a judge of the district in 1990.58 Ben Wagner named Levi, as United States Attorney, in a writ of mandamus against him and others, including John Van de Kamp and George Deukemejian, seeking an investigation of corruption in Mariposa County.59

The district's assistant United States attorneys in the same episode were James White in Fresno and Brian Leighton, who prosecuted members of The Company. White ordered the files of Dr. Arthur Dahlem seized to prove the drug use of the sergeant Roderick Sinclair. Robert E. Coyle of the United States District Court then ordered White to drop the criminal investigation of Sinclair, and Coyle held that the drug records could not be used in court.60 Before he resigned, White filed the trial transcripts and an affidavit listing drugs Sinclair had used with Stephan LaPalm, an employee of the Sacramento office.60

Massachusetts and Western Pennsylvania

Elliot Richardson was United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1959 to 1961, before his service as Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General of Massachusetts and, under President Nixon, Attorney General of the United States; he later served as INSLAW's lead outside counsel.61 William F. Weld was the United States Attorney in Boston in 1985. A letter dated May 16, 1985, signed by William Bradford Reynolds, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and addressed to Weld, named Manucher Ghorbanifar, Adnan Khashoggi and Richard Armitage in connection with an arms transaction. Bill Hamilton of INSLAW obtained the letter in late 2004, and Reynolds authenticated it in 2005.62

Richard Thornburgh was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1975, appointed by President Nixon. He later served as Attorney General from 1988 to 1991, and the House Judiciary Committee's 1992 report on the INSLAW affair said that Meese and Thornburgh "blocked or restricted congressional inquiries" and refused to seek an independent counsel.6364

New Jersey and Northern Georgia

Frederick Lacey was the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1969 to 1971, according to the Federal Judicial Center's entry for him; he was nominated to the federal bench on October 7, 1970, confirmed six days later, and sat on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 1979 to 1985.65 In October 1992 Attorney General William Barr appointed Lacey special counsel for the BNL Scandal, concerning the Atlanta branch of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. Lacey reported on December 9, 1992 that there were no grounds for an independent counsel. He also wrote that he had "seen nothing" to suggest that Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger knew of the loans, and part of his report was classified.66

The Atlanta office's acting United States Attorney, Joseph D. Whitley, took over on June 1, 1990 and recused himself from the bank case the same day, because his former firm had represented Matrix Churchill. Lacey wrote that the recusal was verbal on June 1 and confirmed in writing a week later.66 The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found in February 1993 that the CIA's grounds for withholding reports from prosecutors had "no legal support," and did not find deliberate concealment.67

Other districts

William Sessions, later Director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993, was United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas from 1971 to 1974, after serving as chief of the Government Operations Section of the Criminal Division from 1969 to 1971, and was nominated to the district court by President Gerald Ford in December 1974.68 William J. Donovan, the founder of the OSS, served as United States Attorney for the Western District of New York before running for Governor of New York in 1932.69 Asa Hutchinson was appointed United States attorney for the Western District of Arkansas by President Reagan in 1982 and assigned the IRS criminal investigator William Duncan to watch for money laundering around the Mena airport, where the aircraft of Barry Seal were based; Duncan said he asked Hutchinson in mid-1985 for 20 subpoenas.70 On October 7, 1955 the United States Attorney for Maine, Peter Mills, and the FDA General Counsel, Joseph Maguire, described to the FBI's Louis B. Nichols a conversation with the former attorney of Wilhelm Reich.71

In the Virgin Islands, David M. Nissman, United States Attorney for the district, announced with Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray the August 12, 2004 wire fraud indictment of the territorial senator Carlton Dowe.72 In Arizona, Timothy Courchaine, appointed United States Attorney by Attorney General Pamela Bondi on February 28, 2025, filed the 2025 indictment of Baron Cain Martin in the 764 network case.73 In the Eastern District of Pennsylvania the office told a city judge in August 2026 that it would handle the case of Eugene Horsch, after the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office withdrew its state gun and drug counts.74

Central District of California

The LASD Major Violators documents, seized from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, were copied by federal agents in late 1986. The Inspector General concluded that no evidence was removed from Sheriff's custody, but could not locate the copies in FBI files, in the files of the Los Angeles United States Attorney, or at the DEA, which agents said had seen them in the U.S. Attorney's office in 1990.75

Relationships 3

Investigated by

Sources

  1. 28 U.S.C. 541, "United States attorneys," subsections (a) to (c). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/541 ↩
  2. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, September 2008, ch. 2 (jurisdiction and duties, the count of 93 U.S. Attorneys, selection and the EOUSA role, interim appointments before 2006). https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter2.htm ↩
  3. 28 U.S.C. 542, "Assistant United States attorneys," subsection (b). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/542 ↩
  4. 28 U.S.C. 547, "Duties." https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/547 ↩
  5. OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 2, citing Parsons v. United States, 167 U.S. 324, 343 (1897). https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter2.htm ↩
  6. Blue slip process as described in OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 2, on the blue slip process. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter2.htm ↩
  7. Public Law 109-177, title V, section 502 (March 2006), as described in OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 2. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter2.htm ↩
  8. Public Law 110-34, section 3, 121 Stat. 224 (June 14, 2007), as recorded in the amendments and statutory notes to 28 U.S.C. 546. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/546 ↩
  9. 28 U.S.C. 546, "Vacancies," subsections (a) to (d) as currently in force. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/546 ↩
  10. United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, press advisory, August 18, 2025 (appointment under 28 U.S.C. 546(d) effective August 20, 2025). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2025-08/Press%20Advisory.pdf ↩
  11. Notus report on the Third Circuit decision of December 1, 2025 on the disqualification of Alina Habba as acting United States Attorney for New Jersey, reprinted by the Washington Sun, December 1, 2025. The quoted sentence is as the report quotes the court. https://washingtonsun.com/courts/alina-habba-new-jersey-disqualified?redirected=notus_org ↩
  12. U.S. Department of Justice, OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 1 (the December 7, 2006 resignations, the Graves and Cummins removals, the joint investigation and approximately ninety interviews, Goodling's immunized testimony of May 23, 2007). https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter1.htm ↩
  13. OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 13, "Conclusions" (the process "fundamentally flawed"; the supervision of Gonzales and McNulty; the Iglesias findings; the Sampson placement). https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter13.htm ↩
  14. OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 13, on Battle's account of the Graves call. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter13.htm ↩
  15. OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 1 (witnesses who declined interviews, including Rove, Miers, Goodling and Domenici, and the White House documents withheld). https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter1.htm ↩
  16. OIG/OPR, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, ch. 13, on the Bogden removal and Goodling's denial. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0809a/chapter13.htm ↩
  17. Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, entry for Flannery, Thomas Aquinas (U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, 1969 to 1971; assistant U.S. attorney, 1950 to 1962; nominated by Richard M. Nixon on November 18, 1971, confirmed December 1, 1971). https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/flannery-thomas-aquinas ↩
  18. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report, H. Rept. 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992, on the 1969 design team, the January 1, 1971 deployment, the February 1973 upgrade under Titus, the Lamberth transcript and the Thornburgh and Meese findings. https://archive.org/details/InslawAffairInvestigativeReport ↩
  19. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., System Overview and Report Formats for PROMIS (May 1971), prepared for the District of Columbia Government Office of Crime Analysis under LEAA Grant No. 70-DF-047, NCJ 32469. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/32469NCJRS.pdf ↩
  20. Dinges, John, and Saul Landau, Assassination on Embassy Row (Pantheon, 1980; McGraw-Hill, 1981), pp. 211 and 229 to 236, on the Letelier investigation and the assignment of the case under United States Attorney Earl Silbert. https://archive.org/details/assassination-on-embassy-row ↩
  21. Dinges and Landau, Assassination on Embassy Row, pp. 242 to 243, on Propper's assignment to the Letelier murder. https://archive.org/details/assassination-on-embassy-row ↩
  22. Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, "Biographical Sketch of Earl J. Silbert" (Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney's Office, D.C., 1960 to 1974; United States Attorney, D.C., 1974 to 1979). https://dcchs.org/sb_pdf/biographical-sketch-silbert/ ↩
  23. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington field office file WF 185-425 (Chilbom): FD-302 reports of interviews of Michael Vernon Townley by SAs Robert W. Scherrer and L. Carter Cornick Jr., February 6, 8 and 9, 1979, and a later undated interview; FBI translation of cassette Q188. https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-townley-phone.pdf ↩
  24. U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, "Joseph E. diGenova Sworn in as Counselor to the Attorney General" (from 1983 to 1988 appointed by President Reagan as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia). https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/joseph-e-digenova-sworn-counselor-attorney-general ↩
  25. National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 407, "Decade of the Spy," undated counterintelligence history extract, Doc. 14, on the December 1985 delegation and the 1986 withdrawal of Garment. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB407/docs/EBB-PollardDoc14.pdf ↩
  26. Hartford Courant, May 29, 1992, quoting Barcella that "somebody in the government came to me." ↩
  27. Beaty, Jonathan, and S. C. Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI (Random House, 1993), p. 49. ↩
  28. Public Papers of the Presidents: Ronald Reagan, 1983, Appendix B, Nominations Submitted to the Senate (Rudolph W. Giuliani, of New York, to be United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for the term of 4 years, vice John S. Martin, Jr.). https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/1983-public-papers-president-appendix-b ↩
  29. Ben-Menashe, Ari, Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network (Sheridan Square Press, 1992; TrineDay reprint, 2015), on the prosecution of the sting by the office. ↩
  30. "2 Acquitted of Trying to Sell Military Cargo Planes to Iran," The Washington Post, November 29, 1990, dateline New York, November 28, with the statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney Baruch Weiss. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/29/2-acquitted-of-trying-to-sell-military-cargo-planes-to-iran/2918bfd6-89a7-441a-a124-3b1916e90321/ ↩
  31. United States v. Epstein, No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), docket (indictment filed July 2, 2019; attorneys of record including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey, Alex Rossmiller and Alison Moe, under U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/ ↩
  32. Kimball, Spencer, "Attorney General Barr tells top Manhattan prosecutor Berman he is fired amid power struggle," CNBC, June 20, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/20/attorney-general-barr-tells-manhattan-us-attorney-berman-he-is-fired-amid-power-struggle.html ↩
  33. "Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney Who Prosecuted Trump Allies, Says He Won't Quit," NPR, June 20, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/20/881148365/geoffrey-berman-u-s-attorney-who-prosecuted-trump-allies-says-he-wont-quit ↩
  34. "Jay Clayton Appointed US Attorney for SDNY," Yonkers Times, April 28, 2025. https://yonkerstimes.com/jay-clayton-appointed-us-attorney-for-sdny/ ↩
  35. "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," The Washington Times, November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/ ↩
  36. United States Attorneys' Bulletin, vol. 36, July 15, 1988, p. 166, "Personnel": Dexter Lehtinen took the oath of office, effective June 17, 1988, as Interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao/legacy/2010/10/12/usab3607.pdf ↩
  37. Kerry, John, and Hank Brown, The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, S. Prt. 102-140, December 1992, ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm ↩
  38. "More than 200 roped in drug posse roundup," Deseret News, October 14, 1988. https://www.deseret.com/1988/10/14/18780521/more-than-200-roped-in-drug-posse-roundup/ ↩
  39. Beaty, Jonathan, and S. C. Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI (Random House, 1993). Internet Archive copy, identifier outlawbank00jona. https://archive.org/details/outlawbank00jona ↩
  40. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Executive Summary, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," November 2020, pp. v to vii (the "pivotal decision," the NPA signed September 24, 2007, and the June 30, 2008 state plea). https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl ↩
  41. OPR, Executive Summary, November 2020 (findings on professional misconduct, the "poor judgment" conclusion, and the decision to defer to the state on victim notification of the plea hearing). https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl ↩
  42. OPR, Executive Summary, November 2020 (the five subjects of the review; Acosta's resignation of July 12, 2019; the November 2006 overture by a former U.S. Attorney). https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl ↩
  43. Opinion and Order, Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435 (Marra, J.), p. 27. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf ↩
  44. U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, May 2006 to August 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf ↩
  45. Declaration of Howard R. Teicher, executed January 31, 1995, United States v. Carlos Cardoen et al., No. 93-241-CR-Highsmith (S.D. Fla.), paragraphs 1 to 18. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, document 61. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq61.pdf ↩
  46. Notice of Filing Corrective Declaration (U.S. Attorney William A. Keefer, by AUSA Frank H. Tamen) with Declaration of Howard R. Teicher dated October 31, 1996, United States v. Carlos Cardoen et al., No. 93-241-CR-Highsmith (S.D. Fla.), docket entry 679, certificate of service November 8, 1996, paragraphs 1 to 7. https://archive.org/details/utf-893cr-241-de-679 ↩
  47. Leusner, Jim, "Robert Genzman" (obituary), Orlando Sentinel, May 13, 1998. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138851192/robert-w_-genzman ↩
  48. U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993 (staff biographies, Minority Staff). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force ↩
  49. Kerry and Brown, The BCCI Affair, ch. 8, on the RICO decision and Genzman's testimony. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm ↩
  50. Kerry and Brown, The BCCI Affair, ch. 8, on the January 1990 plea agreement and the Justice Department's conduct after it. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm ↩
  51. United States v. Russell, No. 8:17-cr-00283 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 9, 2018), CourtListener docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6072023/united-states-v-russell/ ↩
  52. Former United States Attorneys Association, "Joe Russoniello Joins Browne George Ross," July 2013 ("Russoniello served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California 1982-1990, and again in 2008-2010"). https://www.nafusa.org/2013/07/joe-russoniello-joins-browne-george-ross/ ↩
  53. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, The CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy (December 1997), ch. III, part 1, on the 1983 tax case. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch03p1.htm ↩
  54. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, The CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy (December 1997), ch. III, part 2, on the February 1987 agreement among the United States Attorney's offices and the July 1987 declination. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch03p2.htm ↩
  55. Webb, Gary, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion (Seven Stories Press, 1998), ch. 15. Webb's account is attributed to Webb. ↩
  56. Seymour, Cheri, The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal (TrineDay, 2010), pp. 340 to 344 and 404 to 405, on the Kalka letter, the April 2000 release and the attribution of the letter to Shockley. ↩
  57. Levy, Steven, Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government, Saving Privacy in the Digital Age (Viking, 2001), on the 1993 Customs investigation of Zimmermann run from the Northern District of California. ↩
  58. Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, entry for Levi, David F. (assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of California, 1983 to 1986; U.S. attorney, 1986 to 1990; judge from October 1, 1990). https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/levi-david-f ↩
  59. Writ of mandamus petition filed by Ben Wagner naming David F. Levi and others. ↩
  60. LaBarge v. County of Mariposa, 798 F.2d 364 (9th Cir. 1986), on the Queen's Accident litigation; and Seymour, The Last Circle, on the Coyle and White passages. ↩
  61. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Harvard Law School alumni records. ↩
  62. Seymour, The Last Circle, pp. 363 to 364, on the May 16, 1985 letter, its provenance, and its signatories, and Reynolds's 2005 authentication of it. ↩
  63. "Richard Lewis Thornburgh," Office of the Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Attorneys General of the United States; "Richard Thornburgh," Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. ↩
  64. House Judiciary Committee, The INSLAW Affair, H. Rept. 102-857 (1992), as in note 18, on the blocked congressional inquiries and the independent counsel refusal. ↩
  65. Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, entry for Lacey, Frederick Bernard (U.S. attorney, District of New Jersey, 1969 to 1971; nominated October 7, 1970; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, 1979 to 1985). https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/lacey-frederick-bernard ↩
  66. Lacey, Frederick B., "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Investigation: Report of the Independent Counsel," reproduced in House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, Testimony of Former Employees of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Serial No. 103-95 (1994), pp. 514 to 515. https://archive.org/details/testimonyofforme1994unit ↩
  67. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, The Intelligence Community's Involvement in the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) Affair, Committee Print S. Prt. 103-12, February 1993, pp. 4 to 5. ↩
  68. Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, entry for Sessions, William Steele (chief, Government Operations Section, Criminal Division, 1969 to 1971; U.S. attorney, Western District of Texas, 1971 to 1974; nominated by Gerald Ford December 11, 1974; Director of the FBI, 1987 to 1993). https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/sessions-william-steele ↩
  69. Troy, Thomas F., Donovan and the CIA: A History of the Establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1981). ↩
  70. Leveritt, Mara, "Who's afraid of Barry Seal?" Arkansas Times, September 28, 2017. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2017/09/28/whos-afraid-of-barry-seal ↩
  71. L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, office memorandum of October 7, 1955, "Wilhelm Reich," Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2. https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI ↩
  72. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Virgin Islands Senator Indicted on Fraud and Theft Charges," press release 04-560, August 13, 2004. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2004/August/04_crm_560.htm ↩
  73. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes," press release, October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise ↩
  74. Rushing, Ellie. "Feds will take over gun case of Olney man at center of missing women investigation, as Philly DA withdraws charges," The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 6, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-federal-charges-olney-missing-women-20260806.html ↩
  75. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, Inspector General account of the Major Violators documents. ↩

Connected to by shared pages

7 shared · Personvia Stephan LaPalm, Dr. Arthur Dahlem, Arnold Overoye
James White
7 shared · Personvia Arnold Overoye, John Van de Kamp, James White
John Van de Kamp
4 shared · Personvia David F. Levi, Ben Wagner, D.I.G. (Decency in Government)
David F. Levi
5 shared · Personvia David F. Levi, John Van de Kamp, Ben Wagner
Ben Wagner
6 shared · Personvia Stephan LaPalm, Dr. Arthur Dahlem, Arnold Overoye
Roderick Sinclair
3 shared · Personvia Stephan LaPalm, James White
Stephan LaPalm
4 shared · Personvia Brian Leighton, The Company, Ben Kalka
Brian Leighton
3 shared · Personvia Phil Zimmermann, Pretty Good Privacy
Phil Zimmermann

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