Reid Schar, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who led the prosecution team that brought down former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, is leaving the office after 12 years.
Reid Schar
Schar, 39, plans to go into private practice, according to a Chicago Tribune report. The prosecutor has made a name for himself under Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Northern Illinois, in a number of successful corruption prosecutions.
Schar also took the lead in the case of Antonin “Tony” Rezko. Rezko, a former Blagojevich fund raiser, was sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison for extorting millions of dollars in exchange for business or approval from regulators, as Main Justice reported last fall.
Schar was also involved in the prosecution of two men accused of helping radical Palestinian group Hamas. The two men were acquitted of any connection to Hamas and conspiring to support terrorism, but they were convicted of lesser charges.
“His work on the Hamas case, Rezko and Blagojevich are only the most visible ways in which he has been as asset to the office and the citizens of Illinois,” Jeffrey Cramer, who worked with Schar for 10 years, told the Tribune. “His talents will be missed.”
Schar is married with three children. He received his law degree from Northwestern University in 1997.
