United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey

The U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. On December 16, 2021, Philip R. Sellinger was sworn in as U.S. Attorney.[1] The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has jurisdiction over all cases prosecuted by the U.S. attorney.

U.S. Attorney's Office for the
District of New Jersey
Department overview
FormedSeptember 24, 1789 (1789-09-24) by the Judiciary Act of 1789
JurisdictionDistrict of New Jersey
HeadquartersNewark, New Jersey, U.S.
Department executive
Parent DepartmentUnited States Department of Justice
Websitejustice.gov/usao-nj

Organization edit

The office is organized into divisions handling civil, criminal, and appellate matters, in addition to the Special Prosecutions Division, which oversees political corruption investigations.[2] The District of New Jersey is also divided into three vicinages: Newark, Trenton and Camden, with the southern two offices supervised by a Deputy U.S. Attorney. The office employs approximately 170 Assistant U.S. Attorneys.[3] It is the fifth-largest U.S. Attorney's Office in the nation, behind those in the District of Columbia, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Miami.[4]

High-profile cases edit

  • Hugh Addonizio - Conviction of former Newark mayor on conspiracy and extortion charges
  • BitClub Network (2019) - Indicted five individuals for operating and promoting the BitClub Network, an elaborate, worldwide Ponzi scheme that law enforcement estimates took in more than $1 billion from investors.
  • Wayne Bryant - Conviction of former chairman of New Jersey Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee for funneling money to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in exchange for a no-show job at the University.
  • Joseph Centanni (2020) - Filed a civil rights lawsuit against a major landlord who repeatedly engaged in a pattern or practice of sexual harassment of numerous tenants and applicants.
  • Cognizant (2019) - Charged the former President and the former Chief Legal Officer of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. with violations of the FCPA in connection with a foreign bribery scheme.
  • Crazy Eddie - Conviction of Eddie Antar, founder and CEO of Crazy Eddie, a consumer electronics chain, for fraud
  • Walter Forbes - Conviction of former chairman of Cendant Corporation for fraud.[5]
  • EDGAR Hacking Attack (2019) - Indicted Artem Radchenko and Oleksandr Ieremenko for a large-scale, international conspiracy to hack into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system and profit by trading on critical information they stole.
  • Fort Dix Six (2007) - Conviction of group of six radical Islamist men allegedly plotting attack on Fort Dix military base[6]
  • Fort Lee lane closure scandal (2014)
  • Cornelius Gallagher - Guilty plea of New Jersey Congressman for tax evasion[7]
  • Nelson G. Gross - Conviction of former Republican state chairman on perjury and obstruction of justice charges
  • Sharpe James (2008) - Conviction of former Newark mayor on corruption charges[8]
  • Robert C. Janiszewski (2002) - Guilty plea of Hudson County Executive for tax evasion and bribery[9]
  • John V. Kenny - Conviction of former Jersey City mayor and chairman of Hudson County Democratic Party on conspiracy, bribery, and extortion charges
  • Charles Kushner (2004) - Guilty plea of real estate developer—and largest campaign donor to former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey—for filing false tax returns and for attempting to retaliate against a witness in a federal criminal case[10]
  • Hemant Lakhani (2005) - Conviction of black market arms dealer attempting to sell shoulder-fired missiles[11]
  • Gene Levoff (2019) - indicted former Corporate secretary and Director of corporate law at Apple Inc. for orchestrating a five-year insider trading scheme.
  • John A. Lynch, Jr. - Guilty plea of former president of New Jersey Senate for mail fraud and tax evasion[12]
  • Newark Violent Crime Initiative (VCI) (2018-2020) - awarded an Attorney General’s Award in October 2019 as the model for cooperative law enforcement among federal, state, county and city agencies. The VCI led to a 30 percent reduction in the number of shooting victims city-wide between 2017 and 2018 and another 39 percent decline in 2019. In 2020, a year in which violent crime spiked in various places across the country, Newark maintained the same low in the number of murders.
  • Novartis/Alcon (2020) - Two deferred prosecution agreements regarding significant violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act at Greek and Vietnamese subsidiaries of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, resulting in penalties of $345 million, representing the second largest criminal and regulatory fine imposed against pharmaceutical companies under the FCPA.
  • Operation Bid Rig (2002–2009) - Multi-stage political corruption sweep, resulting in arrest of Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, New Jersey Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith, and Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega
  • Operation Brace Yourself (2019) - Investigation and prosecution of sweeping durable medical equipment kickback schemes that resulted in the largest healthcare fraud takedown yet pursued by the Department.
  • Purdue Pharma (2020) - prosecution of opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma L.P. for three felonies, including conspiracy to defraud the DEA and Anti-Kickback Statute violations—for its gross misconduct in misbranding and mismarketing OxyContin that amounted to over $8 billion in penalties.
  • Samsam Ransomware (2018) - Indicted two Iranians—Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri—for conducting the largest ransomware attack in the U.S. that crippled institutions in New Jersey and elsewhere.
  • Sarah Brockington Bost (2002), Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey
  • Martin Taccetta & Michael Taccetta (1987) - Unsuccessful prosecution of high-ranking members of The Jersey Crew, a faction of the Lucchese crime family[13]
  • UMDNJ (2005) - Deferred prosecution agreement overseen by federal monitor Herbert Stern involving Medicaid double-billing and other cases of health care fraud at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.[14]
  • Thomas J. Whelan - Conviction of mayor of Jersey City on conspiracy, bribery and extortion charges
  • Woodcliff Lake (2018) - Filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Borough of Woodcliff Lake for violations of RLUIPA resulting from the Borough’s efforts to prevent an Orthodox Jewish congregation from building a new place of worship.

Prominent officeholders edit

Chris Christie, former U.S. attorney and former Governor of New Jersey.

Prominent assistant US attorneys

Officeholders edit

U.S. AttorneyTerm startedTerm endedAppointed by
Richard Stockton 17891791George Washington
Abraham Ogden 17911798
Lucius Horatio Stockton17981801John Adams
Frederick Frelinghuysen 18011801
George C. Maxwell18011803Thomas Jefferson
William S. Pennington 18031804
Joseph McIlvaine 18041824
Lucius Q.C. Elmer 18241829James Monroe
Garret D. Wall 18291835Andrew Jackson
James S. Green18351850
William Halstead 18501853Millard Fillmore
Garret S. Cannon18531861Franklin Pierce
Anthony Q. Keasbey 18611886Abraham Lincoln
Job H. Lippincott 18861887Grover Cleveland
Samuel F. Bigelow 18871888
George S. Duryee18881890
Henry S. White 18901894Benjamin Harrison
John W. Beekman 18941896Grover Cleveland
J. Kearney Rice18961900
David Ogden Watkins 19001903William McKinley
Cortlandt Parker, Jr.19031903Theodore Roosevelt
John Beam Vreeland 19031913
J. Warren Davis 19131916Woodrow Wilson
Charles Francis Lynch 19161919
Joseph L. Bodine 19191920
Elmer H. Geran 19201922
Walter G. Winne19221928Warren Harding
Phillip Forman 19281932Calvin Coolidge
Harlan Besson19321935Herbert Hoover
John J. Quinn19351940Franklin D. Roosevelt
William Francis Smith 19401941
Charles M. Phillips19411943
Thorn Lord19431945
Edgar H. Rossbach19451948Harry Truman
Isaiah Matlack19481948
Alfred E. Modarelli 19481951
Grover C. Richman, Jr.19511953
William F. Tompkins19531954Dwight D. Eisenhower
Raymond Del Tufo, Jr.19541956
Herman Scott19561956
Chester A. Weidenburner19561961
David M. Satz, Jr.19611969John F. Kennedy
Donald Horowitz19691969Lyndon B. Johnson
Frederick B. Lacey 19691971Richard Nixon
Herbert J. Stern 19711974
Jonathan L. Goldstein19741977
Robert J. Del Tufo19771980Jimmy Carter
William W. Robertson19801981
W. Hunt Dumont19811985Ronald Reagan
Thomas W. Greelish19851987
Samuel Alito 19871990
Michael Chertoff 19901994George H. W. Bush
Faith S. Hochberg19941999Bill Clinton
Robert J. Cleary19992002
Christopher J. Christie 20022008George W. Bush
Ralph J. Marra, Jr.20082009
Paul J. Fishman 20092017Barack Obama
William E. Fitzpatrick 20172018Donald Trump
Craig Carpenito 20182021
Rachael A. Honig January 6, 2021December 15, 2021
Philip R. Sellinger December 16, 2021IncumbentJoe Biden

References edit

  1. ^ "Philip R. Sellinger Sworn in as 62nd U.S. Attorney for District of New Jersey" (Press release). U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  2. ^ Office Organization, U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey Archived 2009-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Serving the District of New Jersey, U.S. Attorney's Office
  4. ^ New Jersey Law Journal's Lawyer of the Year: Chris Christie, New Jersey Law Journal, December 27, 2006.
  5. ^ New Jersey Law Journal's Lawyer of the Year: Chris Christie, New Jersey Law Journal, December 27, 2006.
  6. ^ 5 Are Convicted of Conspiring to Attack Fort Dix, The New York Times, December 22, 2008.
  7. ^ Paul Hoffman, Tiger in the Court, Playboy Press, 1979, p. 276.
  8. ^ Former Mayor Guilty of Fraud in Newark Sales, The New York Times, April 17, 2008.
  9. ^ Former Hudson County Leader Gets 41 Months in Corruption Case, The New York Times, March 25, 2005.
  10. ^ Major Donor Admits Hiring Prostitute to Smear Witness, The New York Times, August 19, 2004.
  11. ^ Man Accused of a Scheme to Sell Missiles Praised bin Laden on Tapes, The New York Times, January 9, 2005.
  12. ^ Ex-Leader of New Jersey Senate is Guilty of Corruption, The New York Times, September 16, 2006.
  13. ^ Robert Rudolph, The Boys from New Jersey: How the Mob Beat the Feds
  14. ^ New Jersey Law Journal's Lawyer of the Year: Chris Christie, New Jersey Law Journal, December 27, 2006.

External links edit

40°43′49″N 74°10′27″W / 40.73022°N 74.17417°W / 40.73022; -74.17417