Preet Bharara is an American lawyer who served for seven and a half years as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. As U.S. Attorney, Bharara oversaw the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Southern District of New York. He supervised an office of more than 200 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, who handled a high volume of cases involving terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, financial and healthcare fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime, and civil rights violations.
In 2012, Bharara was featured on the cover of TIME magazine and its list, “100 Most Influential People in the World.” From 2012 to 2016, Bharara was also included in Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment lists,” Worth magazine’s “The Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Finance,” included in Bloomberg Markets “50 Most Influential” list in 2014. The New York Times dubbed Bharara as one of “the nation’s most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors. Bharara has used his voice to advocate for justice, against corruption and in support of public service. He has penned opinion pieces for the New York Times and Washington Post and is a sought-after speaker on a range of issues.
On April 1, 2017, Bharara joined the NYU School of Law faculty as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He is also the Executive Vice President of Some Spider Studios and the host of CAFE’s Stay Tuned with Preet, a podcast focused on issues of justice and fairness. Featuring a wide array of guests such as members of Congress Sheldon Whitehouse, Doug Jones and Adam Schiff; journalists Maggie Haberman, Tina Brown, Ronan Farrow and Nina Totenberg; comedians Hasan Minhaj and Judd Apatow; and activists Garry Kasparov, Vanita Gupta and Bill Browder.
Jeffrey Toobin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1993 and the senior legal analyst for CNN since 2002. Previously, he worked for ABC News, and, in 2000, received an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Elián González case. For the magazine, he has written Profiles of the Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, as well as articles on nearly every major legal controversy and trial of the past two decades. He was the first to interview Martha Stewart about her investigation for insider trading, and the first to disclose the plans of O. J. Simpson’s defense team to accuse Mark Fuhrman of planting evidence and to play “the race card.” Before joining the magazine, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn and an associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh. His books include “Opening Arguments,” “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,” “Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election,” “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President,” and, most recently, “The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court.”
Reading List: Jeffrey Toobin recommends Mark Singer’s “Secrets of the Magus,” about Ricky Jay.