Geoffrey Berman

Background

Geoffrey Berman was born in 1959 and grew up in New Jersey. He attended Muhlenberg College and received his law degree from Pace University School of Law. He began his legal career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the SDNY, building expertise in white-collar criminal prosecution. He later moved into private practice as a partner at the firm Greenberg Traurig.

He was a registered Republican donor and associate of Rudy Giuliani, who recommended him to the Trump administration. He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in January 2018, initially without Senate confirmation under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and later confirmed in April 2018 by the full U.S. District Court judges. The SDNY is widely regarded as the most significant federal prosecutors’ office in the country.

Connection to Epstein

Berman personally oversaw the 2019 Epstein prosecution. When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey as he returned from France, the arrest reflected months of preparation by SDNY prosecutors and FBI agents. Berman was publicly identified as having been directly involved in the prioritization and overseeing of the Epstein prosecution within his office.

The indictment unsealed on July 8, 2019, charged Epstein with two counts of federal sex trafficking. At the accompanying press conference, Berman appeared alongside FBI officials to announce the charges. He described the case as representing a chance to seek justice for victims who had been failed by the earlier 2008 prosecution.

Berman’s office also began the investigation that culminated in the July 2020 federal indictment of Ghislaine Maxwell. Although Maxwell was not arrested until after Berman’s firing, the investigation was initiated and substantially developed under his oversight.

Aftermath

In June 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that Berman was “stepping down.” Berman publicly contradicted this, stating he had not agreed to resign and would not do so voluntarily. The Trump administration then announced his firing. The unprecedented public dispute over the firing drew intense scrutiny; critics alleged that Berman’s office was investigating Trump associates including Rudy Giuliani, suggesting political motivation.

Maxwell was indicted and arrested the following month, July 2020, under Berman’s successor Audrey Strauss.

Berman later wrote about his experience in a memoir and has spoken extensively about the firing and the Epstein case. He described his office’s commitment to the Epstein prosecution and to Maxwell’s subsequent indictment as independent of any political pressure, and criticized the circumstances of his removal.