Preetinder Singh “Preet” Bharara is by no means a household name in the United States (or for that matter, in India) and I doubt if the average person in the US has heard his obscure name:
Preet is not an elected Member of Congress, with, or without a halo of a salacious scandal, or a Hollywood celebrity. He has not been on Cable ‘Talk Shows’ sparring with the likes of Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, or any of FOX News’ loonies (with due apologies to all Canadians) - take your pick of that litter. He has not been on National TV, as have the likes of Rudy Giuliani, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, or even Suzie Ormond, or the ‘Mega-Preacher’ Joel Osteen. Unlike former US Senator (and one time Republican Party hopeful running for nomination for President of United States) Fred Thompson, from the Great State of Tennessee, Preet does not sell ‘Government Guaranteed’ Reverse Mortgages, as a spokesperson for AAG (American Advisors Group), to Mr. and Ms. Senior Citizen America from his immaculately manicured yard. There is no obvious reason for Mr. ‘Joe the Plumber’, and his family, to have had to have heard of Preet Bharara.
With apologies to anyone reading this and feeling they just got summarily dumped into a pool of darkness (entirely unintended), Ladies and Gents: it gives me great pleasure and it is my distinct honor to introduce Mr. Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of NY since 2009. Preet was born in 1968 in Ferozepur (in the State of Punjab), India. Born to a Sikh dad and a Hindu mom, Preet grew up in Monmouth County, New Jersey. His brilliant academic career spans being valedictorian (1986, Ranney School, Tinton Falls, NJ), magna cum laude from Harvard College (1990), and the Columbia Law School (1993) where he was a member of the Columbia Law Review, aka - being a big deal!
Preet was nominated to become US Attorney for SDNY by President Barack Obama in May 2009, and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in August of that year. Prior to being nominated, Preet served as the Chief Counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer of NY. Preet is a Naturalized Citizen of the US.
Of course, none of this stands out as an extraordinary exception – Preet Bharara does not have an exclusive claim to being a highly successful professional, or to having a stellar academic and professional career. That bucket is sumptuously full to its brim. However, what does makes Preet the outstanding and unquestionable exception that he is, is his willingness and to investigate criminal violations of Federal Law, regardless of the person or the institution being investigated, and to have the courage of conviction to bring offenders into a Federal Court, put them on trial, and risk it all in the quest for justice.
Preet has taken on syndicated crime families from New York (the Gambino family), and high profile Wall Street institutions (Bank of America, Deutsche Bank among others), Hedge Fund Managers (Raj Rajarathnam, the doyen of Galleon Group), other ‘high-powered’ individuals (Rajat Gupta, former Super-Consultant to the World), and elected politicians, with a laser like focus on sophisticated large-scale fraud, and, on insider trading.
The preceding is by no means anywhere close to being an exhaustive list. Rather, it is illustrative of what Preet Bharara stands for - for justice and for fair play, for integrity of character, for moral strength, for courage of conviction, and for the willingness to prosecute criminal behaviors across far-flung domains. All, to ensure US laws are not violated without consequences, and to level the playing field for all law abiding Citizens. All, to uphold the oath he was sworn to.
He is dogged in his pursuit of just-cause, for good reasons, and, not just-because he can be. He has been accused of possessing overbearing prosecutorial zeal, but such finger pointing, my friends, is inevitable when a US Attorney is able to prosecute and convict powerful, larger-than-life people and institutions.
Today, Preet Bharara’s office filed criminal charges against SAC Capital Advisors - one of the largest and powerfully connected Hedge Funds on Wall Street. Charges allege SAC of running an insider-trading scheme, not unlike the Rajarathnam-Rajat Gupta nexus, that flourished from 1999 to 2010. SAC’s eponymous billionaire founder Steven Cohen was not charged with any crime in today’s filing.
Of course, everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and SAC’s truck-full of high-powered attorneys have vowed to fight the charges tooth-and-nail to the bitter end.
Time Magazine named Preet Bharara, in 2012, as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World”. I do not think Preet will be resting upon his laurels, or on that Time Magazine label, anytime soon.
The Sheriff of Wall Street cannot afford to.
http://nyti.ms/18DB591
Preet is not an elected Member of Congress, with, or without a halo of a salacious scandal, or a Hollywood celebrity. He has not been on Cable ‘Talk Shows’ sparring with the likes of Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, or any of FOX News’ loonies (with due apologies to all Canadians) - take your pick of that litter. He has not been on National TV, as have the likes of Rudy Giuliani, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, or even Suzie Ormond, or the ‘Mega-Preacher’ Joel Osteen. Unlike former US Senator (and one time Republican Party hopeful running for nomination for President of United States) Fred Thompson, from the Great State of Tennessee, Preet does not sell ‘Government Guaranteed’ Reverse Mortgages, as a spokesperson for AAG (American Advisors Group), to Mr. and Ms. Senior Citizen America from his immaculately manicured yard. There is no obvious reason for Mr. ‘Joe the Plumber’, and his family, to have had to have heard of Preet Bharara.
With apologies to anyone reading this and feeling they just got summarily dumped into a pool of darkness (entirely unintended), Ladies and Gents: it gives me great pleasure and it is my distinct honor to introduce Mr. Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of NY since 2009. Preet was born in 1968 in Ferozepur (in the State of Punjab), India. Born to a Sikh dad and a Hindu mom, Preet grew up in Monmouth County, New Jersey. His brilliant academic career spans being valedictorian (1986, Ranney School, Tinton Falls, NJ), magna cum laude from Harvard College (1990), and the Columbia Law School (1993) where he was a member of the Columbia Law Review, aka - being a big deal!
Preet was nominated to become US Attorney for SDNY by President Barack Obama in May 2009, and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in August of that year. Prior to being nominated, Preet served as the Chief Counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer of NY. Preet is a Naturalized Citizen of the US.
Of course, none of this stands out as an extraordinary exception – Preet Bharara does not have an exclusive claim to being a highly successful professional, or to having a stellar academic and professional career. That bucket is sumptuously full to its brim. However, what does makes Preet the outstanding and unquestionable exception that he is, is his willingness and to investigate criminal violations of Federal Law, regardless of the person or the institution being investigated, and to have the courage of conviction to bring offenders into a Federal Court, put them on trial, and risk it all in the quest for justice.
Preet has taken on syndicated crime families from New York (the Gambino family), and high profile Wall Street institutions (Bank of America, Deutsche Bank among others), Hedge Fund Managers (Raj Rajarathnam, the doyen of Galleon Group), other ‘high-powered’ individuals (Rajat Gupta, former Super-Consultant to the World), and elected politicians, with a laser like focus on sophisticated large-scale fraud, and, on insider trading.
The preceding is by no means anywhere close to being an exhaustive list. Rather, it is illustrative of what Preet Bharara stands for - for justice and for fair play, for integrity of character, for moral strength, for courage of conviction, and for the willingness to prosecute criminal behaviors across far-flung domains. All, to ensure US laws are not violated without consequences, and to level the playing field for all law abiding Citizens. All, to uphold the oath he was sworn to.
He is dogged in his pursuit of just-cause, for good reasons, and, not just-because he can be. He has been accused of possessing overbearing prosecutorial zeal, but such finger pointing, my friends, is inevitable when a US Attorney is able to prosecute and convict powerful, larger-than-life people and institutions.
Today, Preet Bharara’s office filed criminal charges against SAC Capital Advisors - one of the largest and powerfully connected Hedge Funds on Wall Street. Charges allege SAC of running an insider-trading scheme, not unlike the Rajarathnam-Rajat Gupta nexus, that flourished from 1999 to 2010. SAC’s eponymous billionaire founder Steven Cohen was not charged with any crime in today’s filing.
Of course, everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and SAC’s truck-full of high-powered attorneys have vowed to fight the charges tooth-and-nail to the bitter end.
Time Magazine named Preet Bharara, in 2012, as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World”. I do not think Preet will be resting upon his laurels, or on that Time Magazine label, anytime soon.
The Sheriff of Wall Street cannot afford to.
http://nyti.ms/18DB591
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