NYU School of Law has announced that Preet Bharara will join the Law School as a distinguished scholar in residence on April 1, 2017. Bharara comes to NYU Law at the conclusion of his tenure as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the longest for anyone holding that position. As US attorney, Bharara brought a number of public corruption prosecutions against politicians working at the city and state levels, notably the speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver and State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. He also oversaw many prosecutions of financial crimes, including numerous insider trading charges and the case against Bernie Madoff and his associates, as well as suits against Bank of America and Citibank growing out of the financial crisis. Under his leadership, the US attorney’s office secured a record-setting $1.2 billion financial penalty from Toyota in an agreement that installed an independent monitor to oversee the company’s public statements and safety reporting. In addition, the office during Bharara’s tenure extended its long history of successful national security prosecutions, addressing terrorism, international arms and drug trafficking, and evolving cybersecurity threats.
Prior to serving as US attorney, Bharara was chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer, including during the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the selective firings of US attorneys in 2007. He also spent a number of years in private practice before entering public service. Bharara is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School. A frequent visitor to NYU Law, he was the JD convocation speaker in 2015.
“I am honored to join the NYU School of Law, one of the great educational institutions in America, and I welcome the chance to contribute in such a thoughtful setting. I am thrilled for this opportunity to continue addressing the issues I so deeply care about—criminal and social justice, honest government, national security, civil rights, and corporate accountability, to name a few,” Bharara said.
Posted March 21, 2017