Geoffrey Steven Berman (born September 12, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. He is the Global Chair of the litigation department at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
Berman, a Republican, served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1990 to 1994. In January 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Berman's appointment as interim U.S. Attorney for a statutory period of 120 days. On April 25, 2018, the judges of the Southern District of New York, pursuant to , unanimously appointed Berman U.S. Attorney for an indeterminate term that extended "until the vacancy is filled", 28 U.S. Code § 546. Vacancies (United States Attorneys) which may or may not include the appointment of a presidential nominee approved by the Senate.
On June 19, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced in a press release that Berman was "stepping down" effective July 3 and that Jay Clayton, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would be nominated as his replacement. Hours later, Berman stated that he had not resigned and would not resign until "a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate." At the time that Trump and Barr sought his ouster, Berman was reportedly investigating Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for alleged crimes relating to his activities in Ukraine. On June 20, Barr told Berman that he had been fired by Trump at Barr's request and that the deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss would serve as acting U.S. Attorney. Berman then agreed to resign immediately.
Early life Geoffrey Steven Berman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Marie (Edelman) and Ronald Berman, a developer of Trenton real estate properties. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School in 1981. He then studied law at Stanford Law School, where he obtained a Juris Doctor in 1984. During law school, he was the Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review.
Career Berman began his career as a clerk for Judge Leonard I. Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 1987 to 1990 he served as an associate to independent counsel Lawrence Walsh during the Iran–Contra affair investigation. There, he was part of a team that prosecuted former CIA employee Thomas G. Clines for tax fraud.
Assistant United States Attorney (1990–1994) Berman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1990 to 1994. He worked on several tax and fraud cases as a prosecutor, including the Masters of Deception computer hacking case. As a result of Berman’s prosecution of that case, his effigy was stabbed on the front cover of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a computer hacking magazine.
Private practice (1994–2018)
Berman was subsequently engaged by Mudge Rose and Latham & Watkins, where he worked as a monitor to rid the New York Carpenter’s Union of the influence of organized crime. From 1994 to 1997, Berman represented, pro bono, Maureen and Richard Kanka, defending the constitutionality of Megan’s Law in state and federal litigation. He married Joanne Karen Schwartz on August 20, 1994.
Berman is a resident of New York, where he previously lived from 1984 to 2002. He then moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived for 14 years. Berman was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, as was Rudy Giuliani. It was reported that Giuliani supported Berman for U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, but that Giuliani supported a different candidate for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Berman represented Philip Kwon, the deputy general counsel at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey during the Bridgegate trial. He denied that Kwon was ever told the lane closures were intended to punish anyone.
United States Attorney (2018–2020)
After President Donald Trump fired Preet Bharara as U.S. Attorney, Trump interviewed Berman for the position. Berman had performed some part-time volunteer work for the Trump transition. On January 3, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Berman's appointment as U.S. Attorney, along with 16 other former prosecutors to various offices around the country on an interim basis until the Senate could confirm them.
The Trump administration never nominated Berman or most of the other interim appointments. On April 25, 2018, the Chief Judge of the Southern District of New York entered an order on behalf of a unanimous court appointing Berman U.S. Attorney pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C Section 546(d). Berman had the appointment indefinitely, until the Senate confirmed someone nominated by the president. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, often called the "Sovereign District of New York", is known as highly independent. Berman oversaw investigations into some of Trump's associates.
In April 2018, Berman's office issued a search warrant of the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Since Berman was recused by the U.S. Attorney General's Office from the investigation, he was apparently not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office. That search was presumably conducted under the authority of Robert Khuzami, Berman's top deputy.
On August 8, 2018, U.S. Representative Chris Collins, his son Cameron, and the father of Cameron's fiancée, Stephen Zarsky, were arrested by the FBI and charged by Berman with insider trading and making false statements. Following the charges, House Speaker Paul Ryan kicked Collins off of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Collins suspended his reelection campaign. Collins subsequently pleaded guilty to insider trading and lying to the FBI and was sentenced to 26 months in prison.
On October 26, 2018, Berman charged Cesar Sayoc with sending a string of homemade incendiary packages to several present and former federal officials, including former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sayoc pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In October 2018, Berman charged five doctors and one pharmacist with narcotics distribution, including prescribing opioids to individuals who had no medical need for them. Berman said at his press conference: “These doctors and other health professionals should have been the first line of defense against opioid abuse, but as alleged in today's charges, instead of caring for their patients, they were drug dealers in white coats." Five of the defendants have either pleaded guilty or been convicted.
In November 2018, Berman charged recording artist and performer Daniel Hernandez, better known as 6ix9ine, with six felony counts of racketeering and violence to aid racketeering. The most serious charge against Hernandez was "using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to, or possessing a firearm in furtherance of, a crime of violence, which was discharged", which can result in life in prison. In January 2019 Hernandez pleaded guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
On November 26, 2018, Berman announced the indictment of former Honduran Congressman Tony Hernández on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Hernández is the brother of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández. On October 18, 2019, Tony Hernández was convicted at trial.
On January 8, 2019, Berman charged Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, with obstruction of justice in connection with a false and misleading declaration she submitted to a judge in the Southern District of New York. Berman said on announcing the indictment: "Fabricating evidence to affect the outcome of pending litigation not only undermines the integrity of the judicial process, but it threatens the ability of our courts and our government to ensure that justice is done."
On March 25, 2019, Berman charged Michael Avenatti with extortion in connection with his threat to Nike that he would go public with damaging allegations against Nike employees unless Nike paid him over $20 million. Berman said on announcing the charges: "A suit and tie doesn't mask the fact that, at its core, this was an old-fashioned shakedown." Avenatti was convicted on all counts on February 14, 2020.
In April 2019, Berman brought the first ever drug trafficking charges against a pharmaceutical company and two of its executives, charging Rochester Drug Co-Operative and its former CEO, Laurence Doud III, with conspiring to distribute oxycodone and fentanyl and to defraud the DEA. In announcing the charges, Berman said, "This prosecution is the first of its kind: executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking, trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging our country. Our Office will do everything in its power to combat this epidemic, from street-level dealers to the executives who illegally distribute drugs from their boardrooms."
In May 2019, Berman charged Avenatti with another indictment, alleging that he stole $300,000 from his client Stormy Daniels. Berman said: "Far from zealously representing his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft, victimizing rather than advocating for his client."
In July 2019, Berman charged financier Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. Berman said at his press conference: "The alleged behavior shocks the conscience. And while the charged conduct is from a number of years ago, it is still profoundly important to the many alleged victims, now young women. They deserve their day in court, and we are proud to stand up for them in bringing this indictment." Berman's prosecution resurfaced then-Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's handling of Epstein's sex trafficking case a decade earlier. On July 12, Acosta resigned amid pressure from the case.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell of an apparent suicide. Berman stated: "Today's events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein's many victims their day in Court. To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment—which included a conspiracy count—remains ongoing."
On October 9, 2019, Berman announced charges against Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman and two others for campaign violations relating to the illegal use of straw donors and foreign money. Berman said: "They sought political influence not only to advance their own financial interests but to advance the political interests of at least one foreign official—a Ukrainian government official who sought the dismissal of the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine". Berman said the investigation was ongoing.