Lanny Arthur Breuer (born August 5, 1958) is an American criminal defense lawyer who currently serves as vice chair of Covington & Burling LLP. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President Barack Obama. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Early life and education Breuer grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, where he attended Newtown High School. Breuer's parents were both Holocaust refugees; his father from Austria and his mother from Germany. His mother's parents were both murdered in the Holocaust. Breuer's father, a journalist in Vienna, came to America after fleeing to England. In the United States, Breuer's father was the music editor of Aufbau, a German language newspaper in New York. Breuer graduated from Columbia College in 1980, and Columbia Law School in 1985. He currently serves as Chair of the Columbia Alumni Association.
Career Early career After graduating from Columbia Law School, Breuer was an assistant district attorney in Manhattan from 1985 to 1989. Asked how his mother reacted to his decision to become a junior D.A. after an expensive Columbia education, he recalled:
My parents just never made any money at all. I called up my mother to break the news that her son was not going to a law firm: "Mom, you've just got to remember that Cy Vance Jr. - who, of course, is now the D.A. — he's in the D.A.'s office. And Dan Rather Jr., he's in the D.A.'s office. And Andrew Cuomo, the son of the governor, he's in the D.A.'s office." There was a long pause. And my mother said: "Them? They should go to the D.A.'s office. You? You should go to a firm." In fact, some 20 years later, his former boss, the legendary Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau, would still remember Breuer as "a poor Jewish kid from Queens."
As an assistant district attorney, he prosecuted violent crime, such as armed robbery and gang violence, white collar crime, and other offenses.
From 1989 until 1997, Breuer practiced law with the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. In this period, he represented U.S. Marine Sergeant Justin Elzie, one of the first U.S. service members to challenge his dismissal from the military for revealing that he was gay. He also received attention for defending Corey Moore in a first-degree murder trial.
White House Counsel's Office In 1997, Breuer joined the White House Counsel's Office as special counsel to President Bill Clinton, working under counsel to the president Charles F.C. Ruff. As special counsel, Breuer defended the White House and President Clinton in the congressional and Justice Department investigations of the Clinton campaign's fundraising.
He also defended the White House and President Clinton in the various independent counsel investigations, including Ken Starr's Lewinsky investigation. During the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, he defended the President in the impeachment hearings in the House and the impeachment trial in the Senate.
Private practice Prior to becoming assistant attorney general, Breuer was a partner in the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling LLP and the co-chairman of its white-collar defense and investigations practice group. Breuer was best known for his work representing the subjects of congressional investigations. He represented the University of California in an investigation of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Moody's Investor Service in the wake of Enron's collapse, Halliburton/KBR in a hearing conducted by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Roger Clemens,Duff Wilson, "New York Times", “Clemens Hires Top Washington Lawyer”, January 18, 2008 Yahoo!, and the special litigation committee of the board of directors of Hewlett Packard.
Breuer made headlines when a former colleague from the White House, Sandy Berger, asked for representation after an investigation disclosed Berger's theft of classified documents from the National Archives.
Assistant attorney general On January 22, 2009, President Obama selected Breuer to head the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. Reuters. January 22, 2009. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 20, 2009, by a vote of 88–0. He immediately began recruiting elite lawyers from corporate firms, they later became known as the Breu Crew, in hopes of finding those responsible for culpable actions which eventually contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. The crackdown never took place.
FCPA enforcement and anti-corruption initiatives During his tenure as assistant attorney general, Breuer substantially increased enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), bringing in billions in penalties and leading prosecutions against numerous individuals.Leslie Wayne, "Foreign Firms Most Affected By a U.S. Law Barring Bribes", The New York Times, September 3, 2012
His team has secured convictions against over three dozen individuals since 2009. Among the most noteworthy corporate resolutions in the FCPA area since Breuer became AAG are those involving BAE Systems ($400 million),Christopher Drew and Nicola Clark, “BAE Settles Corruption Charges”, The New York Times, February 5, 2010 JGC Corporation ($218.8 million),“JGC Corporation Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay a $218.8 Million Criminal Penalty”, "U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs", April 6, 2011 Daimler AG ($185 million),Charlie Savage, “Daimler is Said to Settle Bribing Charges”, The New York Times, March 23, 2010 and Johnson & Johnson ($70 million).Gardiner Harris, “Johnson & Johnson Settles Bribery Case for $70 Million in Fines”, The New York Times, April 8, 2011
On November 15, 2012, Breuer announced with the Securities and Exchange Commission the release of long-awaited guidance on the Department of Justice's and SEC's approach to FCPA enforcement. The 120-page guide, A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — was largely praised by the business and enforcement communities.Charlie Savage, “Justice Dept. Issues Guidance on Overseas Bribes”, The New York Times, November 14, 2012
Financial fraud and money laundering In June 2012, under Breuer's leadership, the Fraud Section resolved an investigation of Barclays Bank into the bank's manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, the premier benchmark for short-term interest rates. Barclays entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, pursuant to which it agreed to pay $160 million. This was part of an approximately $450 million total resolution with U.S. and British authorities. Shortly after the announcement of the Barclays resolution, the top leadership of the bank was forced to resign.Ben Protess and Mark Scott, “Barclays Settles Regulators’ Claims Over Manipulation Of Key Rates”, The New York Times, June 27, 2012
On December 19, 2012, Attorney General Holder and Breuer announced the second LIBOR resolution, this time with UBS AG and UBS Japan. UBS Japan agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, and UBS AG entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the government and, together with UBS Japan, agreed to pay $500 million in penalties. This was part of an approximately $1.5 billion total resolution with U.S., British, and Swiss authorities. In addition, two individual former UBS traders were charged by criminal complaint with manipulating LIBOR for their own ends.Mark Scott and Ben Protess, “As Unit Pleads Guilty, UBS Pays $1.5 Billion Over Rate Rigging”, New York Times, December 19, 2012
On December 11, 2012, Breuer announced that HSBC agreed to forfeit $1.25 billion – the largest forfeiture by a bank in U.S. history – and to pay $665 million in civil penalties for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the Trading With the Enemy Act.Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion Settle Charges of Money Laundering”, New York Times, December 10, 2012 HSBC would not be criminally prosecuted for alleged terrorist financing. Commentator Glenn Greenwald noted the disparity between that decision and the extremely harsh penalties regularly doled out to powerless American Muslims accused of similar behavior. A New York Times editorial called the decision a "dark day for the rule of law."
The department has also reached resolutions with, among others, ING Bank ($619 million),Anne Lowrey, “ING Bank to Pay $619 Million to Settle Inquiry Into Sanctions Violations”, The New York Times, June 12, 2012 Standard Chartered ($227 million),Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “Standard Chartered Agrees to Settle Iran Money Transfer Claims”, The New York Times, December 10, 2012 and MoneyGram ($100 million).Elizabeth Murphy, “MoneyGram Agrees to $100 Million Settlement in Fraud, Money-Laundering Case” , "Main Justice", November 9, 2012
Under Breuer's tenure, the Criminal Division also secured the conviction and 30-year prison sentence of the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker in a $3 billion bank fraud,Ben Protess, “Leader of Big Mortgage Lender Guilty of $2.9 Billion Fraud”, The New York Times, April 19, 2011 and the conviction and 110-year prison sentence of R. Allen Stanford for perpetrating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.Clifford Krauss, “Stanford Sentenced to 110-Year Term in $7 Billion Ponzi Case”, The New York Times, June 14, 2012
BP oil spill On November 15, 2012, Breuer and Attorney General Holder jointly announced the largest criminal resolution in history in connection with the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. As part of the resolution, BP agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony manslaughter charges, environmental crimes, and obstruction of Congress, and to pay $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties. In addition to resolving charges against the corporation, the two highest-ranking supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon were charged with manslaughter, and a former BP executive was charged with obstruction of Congress and making false statements.
Organized and violent crime and cooperation with Mexico Breuer coordinated the largest mafia takedown in the U.S. Department of Justice's history, announcing with Attorney General Holder in January 2011 charges against more than 125 members of La Cosa Nostra.U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, “91 Leaders, Members and Associates of La Cosa Nostra Families in Four Districts Charged with Racketeering and Related Crimes, Including Murder and Extortion”, January 11, 2011 The division has also prosecuted the most notorious national and international violent gangs operating in U.S. cities and along the southwest border, such as MS-13 in North Carolina, Maryland, and California,U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, “MS-13 Leader Sentenced to 60 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy, Armed Robbery and Gun Violation”, May 4, 2009, “North Carolina MS-13 Gang Member Convicted of Racketeering Charges Related to Murder; First MS-13 Member Sentenced to Death”, April 28, 2010, and “Former Leader of MS-13 Gang in San Francisco Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Charges”, January 10, 2011 and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, “Eleven Alleged Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Members Charged for Roles in Assault”, February 18, 2011