Audrey Strauss served as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2020 to 2021, and it was under her leadership that several significant actions in the Epstein accountability saga were taken.
Maxwell’s Arrest: Strauss personally announced the July 2020 arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell in Bradford, New Hampshire. Her statement at the press conference was notable for directly addressing victims, saying: “We hope that providing some measure of justice to Epstein’s victims is not too late.”
Context: Strauss took over as Acting U.S. Attorney after Geoffrey Berman was controversially removed by the Trump administration in June 2020. Her tenure saw the Maxwell prosecution advance through indictment and preparation for trial.
Maxwell Superseding Indictment: Strauss’s office filed a superseding indictment against Maxwell in March 2021 that added sex trafficking charges to the original conspiracy charges.
Background: Audrey Strauss had served as a federal prosecutor and senior attorney in the SDNY office for decades and was a well-respected figure in the federal courts community before her appointment as Acting U.S. Attorney.