Weekend Economists Mark D Day, 2014 June 6-8, 2014

[Demeter]

30. More about our special guest Preet

Early life and career



Bharara was born in 1968 in Ferozepur, Punjab, India, to a Sikh father and Hindu mother. He grew up in Eatontown in suburban Monmouth County, New Jersey and attended Ranney School in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1986. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1990 and Columbia Law School in 1993, where he was a member of the Columbia Law Review.

Bharara served as the chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer and played a leading role in the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary investigation into the firings of United States attorneys. He was assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan for five years, bringing criminal cases against the bosses of the Gambino and Colombo crime family and Asian gangs in New York City.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

Bharara was nominated to become U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York by President Barack Obama on May 15, 2009 and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was sworn into the position on August 13, 2009.

In regards to the role of the prosecutor and the correct attitude of the prosecutor, Mr. Bharara will ask all applicants to his office, "How are you going to feel knowing that every day in your job, by definition of you doing your job correctly on the criminal side, you will basically be the proximate cause for, and responsible for, another human being losing his or her liberty for periods of time?" He continues, "From time to time, you get an applicant that is a little bit excited about that prospect. And takes some joy in that prospect. And they are a little too zealous about it. And you know what we do? We don't hire that person... You don't want a justice system where you have prosecutors who are cowboys."

National security and Terrorism

Bharara has said the office’s top priority is protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism, whether homegrown or foreign-based. According to Bharara, after 9/11 “as crime has gone global and national security threats are global, in my view the long arm of the law has to get even longer. We can’t wait until bombs are going off.” Bharara has also been an advocate of trying and prosecuting terrorists through the civilian court system. Bharara, at a joint media availability held on April 1, 2014 with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "Every time this Office is called upon to prosecute an accused terrorist, we stand at the ready to do what is needed to obtain justice and protect the interests of the United States, as we do in all of our prosecutions."

During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, the office has prosecuted several international terrorists, and secured life sentences for Faisal Shazad, the Times Square Bomber, and Ahmed Ghailani, an Al Qaeda associate who was responsible for the mass murder of innocents at the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. More recently, Bharara oversaw the prosecution of Al Qaeda spokesman and Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, who was convicted of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. Abu Ghayth had, among other actions, appeared in video footage alongside Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders as they justified the September 11, 2001 attacks. Most recently, Bharara's office convicted Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Al Qaeda cleric who was convicted for charges relating to hostage taking, conspiracy to establish a militant training camp, and calling for holy war in Afghanistan.

Bharara’s office convicted Affia Siddiqui for attempting to kill American servicemen in Afghanistan as well as four men for plotting to blow up a synagogue in Riverdale. In February 2011, the first pirate in modern times, Abduwali Muse, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to more than 33 years in prison, following prosecution by the office. In November 2011, under Bharara's supervision, his Office convicted the Russian international arms trafficker Viktor Bout for intending to smuggle arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to be used against U.S. forces. Bharara’s office is also prosecuting alleged associates of al-Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Hizballah.

On April 13, 2013, Bharara was on a list released by the Russian Federation of Americans banned from entering the country over their alleged human rights violations. The list was a direct response to the so-called Magnitsky list revealed by the United States the day before.