The Likely Next U.S. Attorney for NY’s Southern District: Preet Bharara

[WSJ_law_blog]

This just in: According to a story by our own Amir Efrati, the Obama Administration is expected to nominate Preet Bharara, currently one of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, several people familiar with the matter say.

Bharara, 40, has served as Schumer’s chief counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee since 2005. He oversaw the congressional investigation into the Bush administration’s firings of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006, which led to the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Prior to that, Bharara was an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan for five years, where he brought criminal cases against Italian-American mobsters and Asian gangs in New York City.

Perhaps most importantly, Bharara (Harvard, Columbia Law) is a Springsteen fan. According to the Journal story, Bharara is known by his former colleagues at the U.S. attorney’s office as an affable prosecutor with a witty and self-deprecating sense of humor and who would sometimes play Springsteen albums at the office when he was working late.

Schumer recommended Bharara to the Obama administration, according to people familiar with the matter. While the Obama administration is expected to defer to Schumer, the choice is not definite.

Bharara and a representative for the Obama administration declined to comment.

In addition, several names have surfaced in the search for a new U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn, which also has been a primary investigator of fraud stemming from the credit crisis. Among the candidates: Eric Corngold, a former prosecutor in Brooklyn and now a top deputy for New York’s attorney general; Benton Campbell, the interim U.S. attorney in Brooklyn and Greg Andres, currently chief of that office’s criminal division; and at least three former eastern district prosecutors who are now defense lawyers: Jim Walden, Daniel Alonso and Andrew Weissmann.

Photo: North American South Asian Bar Association