Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has established a Civil Frauds Unit, the Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Preet Bharara (DOJ)
The Civil Frauds Unit within the office’s Civil Division will prosecute large-scale economic crimes including mortgage and health care fraud. The new fraud unit is designed to serve as a complement to the Complex Frauds Unit, which was formed late last fall in the office’s Criminal Division. The new unit will give SDNY prosecutors more tools to fight economic crimes, including a lower burden of proof than is needed in criminal fraud cases.
The new unit will be led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean C. Cenawood, who had previously served as the 0ffice’s affirmative civil enforcement coordinator, health care fraud coordinator and Immigration Unit chief. He has been with the office since 1997.
His deputies will be Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca C. Martin and Lara K. Eshkenazi. Martin, who joined the office in 2001, was the health care fraud coordinator. Eshkenazi, who has been with the office since 2003, served as a line attorney.
They will be assisted by more than two dozen Assistant U.S. Attorneys who will handle cases in the office’s civil and criminal fraud units.
“The Assistant United States Attorneys in the Civil Frauds Unit, working side by side with the prosecutors in our Complex Frauds Unit, will be charged with using every weapon in our diverse arsenal to combat financial fraud and to vindicate its victims,” Bharara said in a statement. “Protecting the public fisc has always been a principal priority of this office, and the formation of this new unit underscores both that long-standing promise and our renewed commitment, in resources and vision, to fighting financial fraud. The bright and dedicated men and women of the Civil Frauds Unit are exceptional public servants deeply committed to this important mission.”
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[...] SDNY U.S. Attorney Creates Civil Frauds Unit – Main Justice [...]
[...] a 13-year veterans of the U.S. Attorney’s office, was named as head of the unit when it was created in March. He previously served as the office’s [...]