Attorney General Merrick Garland today announced the appointment of 12 U.S. Attorneys to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC). Created in 1973, the AGAC advises the Attorney General on matters of policy, procedure, and management impacting the Offices of U.S. Attorneys and elevates the voices of U.S. Attorneys in Department policies. The first meeting of the AGAC will take place later this spring.
Attorney General Garland appointed Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to serve as the chair of the AGAC, and Cindy K. Chung, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, to serve as the vice chair. Click here to view the full list and bios of members of the AGAC
Each year, NAFUSA recognizes an Assistant U.S. Attorney for outstanding performance through the J. Michael Bradford Memorial Award. The award is named after J. Michael Bradford, who served as a U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas from 1994 to 2001. Bradford, who died in 2003, had a distinguished career in public service, including successfully defending the government against lawsuits stemming from the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian’s compound in Waco, Texas. NAFUSA annually solicits nominations from current U.S. Attorneys for the Bradford Award. Typically, the recipient has handled a significant investigation and prosecution or a series of prosecutions which has had a significant impact and merits special recognition.
Once again, a number of exceptional nominations were made by U.S. Attorneys around the country. The J. Michael Bradford Award Committee was chaired by NAFUSA Treasurer John Richter. Its members included Deb Gilg, Lee Bentley, Greg Brower, Paul Fishman, Rich Hartunian, Ed Stanton, Chuck Stevens and Johnny Sutton.
This year, the NAFUSA Board of Directors voted to give the award to former AUSA Caroline Heck Miller, who retired this year from of the District of Southern District of Florida, nominated by U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez. Caroline served 42 years in an outstanding manner is a variety of capacities. DOJ hired her directly out of law school in 1979. She joined the SD of Florida in 1983. “During an era in which women did not advance in the workplace at anywhere near the rate they do today, Caroline was a trailblazer who quickly rose into significant leadership roles within our Office. During her career Caroline was appointed to our Office’s highest leadership positions, tasked with one of DOJ’s most important overseas postings”, Gonzalez said in his nomination.
In the 1980s Caroline served as Chief of the Fraud Section. She oversaw several of the most significant criminal cases in the nation arising out of the wave of of bank and S&L crashes.
In the 1990s Caroline continued to handle some of the Office’s most complex and important prosecutions, including criminal charges resulting from the catastrophic crash of discount carrier ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 which led to the death of 110 people. In 1996, a Cuban military fighter jet shot down two planes flown over international water by members of a Miami based anti-Castro organization. A five month trial led by Caroline led to the conviction of five defendants for acting at the direction of the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence as covert spies in the United Sates.
In the mid-2000s, Caroline returned to prosecuting bank fraud cases,. Several years later she successfully prosecuted the son of the former president of Liberia. Installed by his father as the head of Liberia’s Anti-Terrosim Unit, also known as the “Demon Forces,” Taylor carried out an utterly grisly and revolting three-year campaign of torture. After the Taylor trial, Caroline served as the DOJ Attache with the Criminal Division in the UK from 2014 through 2019, before returning to the SD of Florida.
The Miami Herald in reporting on Caroline Miller’s retirement, stated, “Heck Miller came to be known as a trailblazer among prosecutors in the federal courthouse. She was also a ‘resident rabbi’ offering sage advice on the law, ethics and trials to young prosecutors, and a polished writer who did all of her own pleadings and appeals.”
NAFUSA is proud to name her our 2022 Outstanding Assistant United States Attorney.
Here are the other nominees for this year’s Bradford Award. Each of the nominees will receive recognition from NAFUSA for their exemplary service.
Ben Schrader Middle District of Tennessee
Joanne S. Osinoff Central District of California
Christopher C. Caffarone Eastern District of New York
Matthew Silverman Eastern District of New York
David W. Denton, Jr. Southern District of New York
Gill P. Beck Western District of North Carolina
Carol M. Skutnik Northern District of Ohio
Erin P. Warner Southern District of Texas
Stewart M. Young District of Utah
Stephen L. Nelson District of Utah
Daniel Hugo Fruchter Eastern District of Washington
On Thursday, April 7, 2022, the NAFUSA Annual Conference will feature a panel discussion entitled “Crypto: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly.” It will feature Steve Bunnell, Sean Joyce, Jan Massari and Eun Young Choi. The panel will be moderated by NAFUSA Vice President Ken Wainstein.
Steve Bunnell is the Chief Legal Officer of the Diem Association, a non-profit membership association established to develop a new global blockchain-based payment system that would provide faster, better, and less expensive payments, and promote financial inclusion. Bunnell was the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017, and has also served as the Chief of the Criminal Division and Chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. He is also the former Managing Partner of O’Melveny & Myers’ Washington office and a former Co-Chair of the firm’s Data Security and Privacy Practic
Bunnell is a Distinguished Fellow of Homeland Security at the Syracuse University College of Law, and a Member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School and his B.A. from Yale University.
Sean Joyce is a Principal in PwC’s Consulting Segment, where he is the Global & US Cybersecurity, Risk and Regulatory practice leader and a member of the U.S. Advisory Leadership Team. Sean has worked with clients in various sectors providing strategic guidance, regulatory response, investigative support, incident breach response and cybersecurity advice. Most notably, Sean has consulted in some of the most prolific cyber breaches, providing guidance and expertise to top executives.
Prior to rejoining PwC, Sean was the Chief Trust Officer at Airbnb where he led Design Specialists, Product Managers, Engineers and Data Scientists to help grow and defend the platform. Also, he had responsibility for Privacy and Community Policy. Sean was a member of the Airbnb Executive Committee.
Previously, Sean served as the Deputy Director with the FBI, and had daily oversight of the approximately 36,000 men and women of the FBI and its $8 billion annual budget. With more than 26 years of service in the FBI, Sean brought a wide range of operational and leadership experience. He was an integral part of transforming the FBI into an intelligence-driven organization. Sean served in many positions during his tenure at the FBI including; the Executive Assistant Director at the FBI’s National Security Branch and lead intelligence official of the FBI, Assistant Director of International Operations, Section Chief of the Counterterrorism Division’s International Terrorism Operations Section, Joint Terrorism Task Force Supervisor, SWAT Team Leader, and Hostage Rescue Team Operator.
A Brockton, MA native, he holds degrees from Boston College and Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business.
Jai Masari is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she is a member of Financial Institutions and Fintech practices. Major global banks, asset managers and corporations look to Jai for advice on the requirements, impact and implementation of financial regulation. In the area of digital assets and cryptocurrency, she advises financial institutions, fintech firms, tech companies and startups on a wide range of legal and regulatory considerations.
Jai’s work in financial regulation and fintech has been recognized by Chambers, Law360, Euromoney,Global Banking Regulation Review and IFLR1000. A source quoted by Chambers says she “has a unique ability to decompose complex problems and develop elegant solutions” amid varying regulatory frameworks.
Jai serves on the Global Advisory Board of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum and has been a visiting lecturer at Berkeley Law School since 2017.
Ken Wainstein is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he focuses his practice on corporate internal investigations and civil and criminal enforcement proceedings.
Ken spent over 20 years in a variety of law enforcement and national security positions in the government. Between 1989 and 2001, Ken served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia, where he handled criminal prosecutions ranging from public corruption to gang prosecution cases and held a variety of supervisory positions, including Acting United States Attorney. In 2001, he was appointed Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, where he provided oversight and support to the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. Between 2002 and 2004, Ken served as General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and then as Chief of Staff to Director Robert S. Mueller III.
In 2004, Ken was appointed and then confirmed as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he lead the largest United States Attorney’s Office in the country. In 2006, the U.S. Senate confirmed Ken as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security. In that position, Ken established and led the new National Security Division, which consolidated DOJ’s law enforcement and intelligence activities on counterterrorism and counterintelligence matters.
In 2008, after 19 years at the Justice Department, Ken was named Homeland Security Advisor by President George W. Bush. In this capacity, he coordinated the nation’s counterterrorism, homeland security, infrastructure protection, and disaster response and recovery efforts. He advised the President, convened and chaired meetings of the Cabinet Officers on the Homeland Security Council, and oversaw the inter-agency coordination process for homeland security and counterterrorism programs.
Eun Young Choi currently serves as the inaugural Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team at the Department of Justice, where she leads a team of subject matter experts drawn from across the Department, to identify, investigate, support and pursue the department’s cases involving the criminal use of digital assets; set strategic priorities regarding digital assets technologies; and lead the department’s efforts to coordinate with domestic and international law enforcement partners, regulatory agencies and private industry to combat the criminal use of digital assets. She previously served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, where she was responsible for coordinating and advising on cyber and cryptocurrency-related issues across the Department of Justice, and representing the Department in the development of interagency policy and strategy.
Eun Young began her career at the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she was the Office’s Cybercrime Coordinator and investigated and prosecuted cyber, fraud, and money laundering crimes, with a particular focus on network intrusions, digital currency, the dark web, and national security investigations.
Prior to her time at the Department, Eun Young was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the Honorable Reena Raggi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
NAFUSA Executive Director Rich Rossman has announced that he is stepping down as the executive director of NAFUSA, effective as of the close of the San Diego conference. Rich joined NAFUSA in 1981 and served as president in 2009-2010. He became the 5th NAFUSA executive director in 2011, a post he has held for 11 years.
Rich served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan (1980-1981). He previously served as the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney (1977-1980) and as the Chief Deputy Federal Defender (1972-1975) in Detroit. In 1998-1999, he returned to the Department of Justice, serving as the Chief of Staff in the Criminal Division at Main Justice. He received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1964.
Rich and Patty are retired and live in Northern Michigan in a little resort town named Leland. There isn’t a traffic light in their whole county. Nevertheless, they both intend to continue to be active in the NAFUSA community which includes many of their very best friends.
On Friday, April 8, 2022, the NAFUSA Annual Conference in San Diego will feature a panel discussion entitled “The Legacy of Women at DOJ.” It will feature former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick and former Deputy Attorney General and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. The panel will be moderated by NAFUSA President Karen Hewitt.
Loretta E. Lynch, the former United States Attorney General, is a partner in the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department. Ms. Lynch’s legal career has included both private law practice and public service, including three presidential appointments. Ms. Lynch served as the U.S. Attorney General from 2015-2017, where she was appointed by President Barack Obama.
In 1990, Ms. Lynch became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she rose through the ranks, serving in the General Crimes Section as Deputy Chief (1992–93), in the Long Island Division as Chief (1994–98), and as the Chief Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (1998–99) before being named U.S. Attorney of that office in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.
Ms. Lynch returned to private practice in 2002, where she specialized in commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense and corporate compliance issues. During this period, Ms. Lynch also served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was Special Counsel to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
In 2010 Pres. Obama appointed Ms. Lynch once again as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Ms. Lynch received her J.D. and her B.A. in American Literature from Harvard University.
As one of Washington’s best-known litigators, Jamie Gorelick has represented institutions and individuals in a wide array of matters, particularly in the regulatory and enforcement arenas. Routinely listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in America,” she was the 2018 American Lawyer “Lifetime Achiever”, has been profiled as “A Legend in the Law” in the Washington Lawyer, and listed by the National Law Journal as one of the “Thirty Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years.” She recently received the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Service Award.
Jamie has been in and out of government for most of her career. She was one of the longest serving Deputy Attorneys General of the United States, the second highest position in the Department of Justice.She is currently a partner at WilmerHale is Washington, DC.
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. Her practice focuses on counseling clients in complex and sensitive matters, including government enforcement and regulatory matters, congressional investigations, compliance, corporate governance and crisis management. Drawing upon her nearly three decades at the Department of Justice, she specializes in internal and independent investigations for public and private organizations and boards. In addition to serving as the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Sallly also served as the Acting Attorney General.
An accomplished trial lawyer and Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Sally has tried numerous high-profile cases.
Karen Hewitt is a former United States Attorney and an experienced trial lawyer who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court for more than two decades. She currently represents companies nationwide in civil and criminal investigations and in complex business litigation. Karen’s practice focuses on defending matters involving possible violations of federal law, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Taft-Hartley Act, and the False Claims Act. She is Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s California Region, which encompasses five offices and nearly 300 lawyers. She has been recognized in Chambers as a “real powerhouse.” Karen is President of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys.
Monty Wilkinson will speak at the Annual Conference in San Diego with an update on currents activities at EOUSA.
Monty was appointed Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, on March 14, 2021. The Executive Office, created in 1953, provides general guidance and support to the 94 United States Attorneys’ offices and their more than 12,000 employees.
Prior to being appointed Director, Mr. Wilkinson served as the acting Attorney General from January 20, 2021, until Attorney General Garland was sworn in on March 11, 2021. He previously served as the Director of EOUSA from April 2014 until December 2017 and prior to that as its Principal Deputy Director and Chief of Staff.
During his career with the Department of Justice, Mr. Wilkinson has served as Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, and as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources and Administration. He also held senior management positions for nearly a decade in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Mr. Wilkinson started his career at the Department of Justice in 1990 as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division.
Mr. Wilkinson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Georgetown University Law Center. He is the recipient of a Department of Justice Special Achievement Award, a United States Attorney’s Office Distinguished Service Award, and the Attorney General’s Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award.
On February 9, 2022, NAFUSA member Neil MacBride (ED Virginia) was confirmed by the United States Senate (61-33) to be the General Counsel at the Treasury Department. He was nominated to the post by President Biden on June 3, 2021. Before MacBride served as United States Attorney, he served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at Main Justice and earlier as Chief Counsel to then Senator Joe Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Most recently he has been a litigation partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and the head of the its Washington office and as co-head of the Firm’s Government Investigations Practice.
NAFUSA is pleased to announce that Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco will be the keynote speaker at the San Diego Annual Conference on April 8, 2022.
She is the 39th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. As the Deputy Attorney General, she is the Department’s second-ranking official and is responsible for the overall supervision of the Department. The Deputy Attorney General serves as the Chief Operating Officer, and the Department’s litigating and policy components, law enforcement agencies, and 93 U.S. Attorneys report to the Deputy. The Deputy Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General in formulating and implementing the Department’s policies and programs.
A 15-year veteran of the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Monaco served as a career federal prosecutor and in several leadership positions across the Department. She began her Justice Department career as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno and went on to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Columbia, where she was a member of the Enron Task Force and received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department’s highest award. She thereafter served in several leadership roles: Chief of Staff at the Federal Bureau of Investigation to then Director Robert S. Mueller, III; Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General; and Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the first woman to hold that position.
From 2013-2017, Deputy Attorney General Monaco was the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to the President. In that role, she coordinated the Executive Branch’s policy and response to a wide range of security issues – including the response to international and domestic terrorist incidents, cyber threats, and natural disasters – and advised the President on all aspects of counterterrorism policy and strategy.
Deputy Attorney General Monaco has served in private practice and taught national security law. She was born and raised in Massachusetts and is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.
According to The New York Times, NAFUSA member Doug Jones (ND Alabama 1997-2001) will serve as a guide for President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee during the Senate confirmation process. Jones was the first Democrat in decades to hold a United States Senate seat in Alabama, and seen by The Times as an olive branch offered by President Biden “as he frequently co-sponsored bipartisan legislation during his three years in the Senate.” Once a nominee is selected, Jones will introduce her to senators and prepare her for hearings.
Jones is a long time member of NAFUSA and would have been installed as president of NAFUSA in 2018 if he hadn’t stepped down to run for the Senate. On April 20, 2021, Doug was featured on a NAFUSA webinar entitled “Justice Delayed Not Justice Denied: The prosecutions of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing cases.”
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