page_title: Preet Bharara
section_title: International investigations
hierarchical_section_title: Preet Bharara / U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York / International investigations
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara waits with Attorney General Eric Holder to announce charges related to a plot directed by elements of the Iranian government to murder the Saudi Ambassador to the United States
context_page_description: Preetinder Singh Bharara is an American lawyer, author, and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for five years prior to leading the Southern District. According to The New York Times, Bharara was one of the "nation's most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors of public corruption and Wall Street crime" during his tenure.
  Born in Firozpur, India, his family immigrated to New Jersey in 1970. Bharara graduated from Harvard College in 1990 and attended Columbia Law School before joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a litigation associate in 1993. Three years later he moved to Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, where he did white-collar defense work. Bharara first entered the public sector as chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer, charged with investigating the 2006 presidential dismissal of U.S. attorneys. He transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004 as an assistant U.S. Attorney, launching his career as a federal prosecutor.
context_section_description: Bharara's office sent out agents to more than 25 countries to investigate suspects of arms and narcotics trafficking and terrorists, and bring them to Manhattan to face charges. One case involved Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker, who lived in Moscow and had a deal involving selling arms to Colombian terrorists. Bharara argued that this aggressive approach is necessary in post 9/11 era. Defense lawyers criticized the stings, calling Bharara's office  "the Southern District of the World." They also argued that American citizens would not appreciate other countries' treating them in these ways. Countries have not always rushed to cooperate, according to a review of secret State Department cables released by WikiLeaks.
  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.
caption: Bharara (right) waits with Attorney General Eric Holder to announce charges related to the 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot.
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