Geoffrey Berman

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 a partner at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

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.

Berman began his career as a clerk for Judge Leonard I. Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

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.

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.

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.

Berman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1990 to 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.

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.

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", which may or may not include the appointment of a presidential nominee approved by the Senate.

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 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.

Geoffrey Steven Berman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Marie (Edelman) and Ronald Berman, a developer of Trenton real estate properties.