Short Answer
Preet Bharara served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) from 2009 to 2017. He was not in office when the original 2008 non-prosecution agreement was made, but later publicly criticized the deal and commented extensively on the 2019 SDNY charges against Epstein.
In Detail
Tenure as U.S. Attorney
Bharara was appointed SDNY U.S. Attorney by President Obama and confirmed in 2009. He became one of the most prominent federal prosecutors in the country, known for aggressive pursuit of financial fraud, public corruption, and organized crime. He was fired by President Trump in March 2017 after refusing to resign at the request of the new administration.
The Epstein 2008 Deal
Bharara was not in office when Alexander Acosta, then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, negotiated the controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement with Epstein. However, Bharara has been one of the most vocal critics of that deal in public commentary.
Commentary on the 2019 Case
When Epstein was arrested by SDNY in July 2019, Bharara appeared extensively in media to discuss the significance of the charges and the legal landscape surrounding them. He praised the SDNY team’s work in reopening a case that had been settled with what many legal experts viewed as an inadequate deal.
Stay Tuned Podcast
After leaving office, Bharara became a prominent legal commentator, hosting the “Stay Tuned with Preet” podcast and writing for various publications. The Epstein case and its implications for prosecutorial accountability were recurring topics in his commentary.
Legacy
Bharara’s public engagement with the Epstein case helped translate its complex legal dimensions for general audiences and contributed to national understanding of the prosecutorial failures that allowed Epstein to avoid meaningful accountability for over a decade.