Andrew Lelling

Andrew E. Lelling (born 1970) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 2017 to 2021. He is best known for leading Operation Varsity Blues, the federal investigation and prosecution of a massive nationwide college admissions scandal, He also oversaw the largest-ever prosecution of MS-13, which all but eliminated the notorious Salvadoran gang in the Boston area and the prosecution of six eBay employees involved in the eBay stalking scandal which involved the terrorizing of a middle-aged couple living in greater Boston, Massachusetts. His tenure was also marked by major gang and healthcare enforcement actions. Lelling, however, was also criticized by some as being "overzealous, grandstanding, and politically motivated" for his prosecution of a local trial judge who helped an undocumented immigrant charged with drug crimes avoid arrest by immigration authorities.

Early life and education

Lelling grew up in Rockland County, New York, the son of Irwin, a dentist, and Selma. Lelling received a Bachelor of Arts in literature and rhetoric from Binghamton University in 1991 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1994. Lelling clerked for Berry Avant Edenfield of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. He went on to serve as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

U.S. Attorney's office

At the time of his nomination to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Lelling had served for 12 years as senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, prosecuting white collar crime, international drug trafficking, and other offenses. He is a member of the Federalist Society and a former member of the ''Boston Bar Journal's'' board of editors. He assumed office on December 21, 2017.

During his tenure with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, Lelling led the prosecution of a billion-dollar pyramid scheme that defrauded almost 2 million investors. A former executive of Telexfree was sentenced to six years in federal prison for his involvement in the scheme. Lelling also helped prosecute Carlos Rafael, a fishing magnate known as "the Codfather" who pleaded guilty to mislabeling hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish, allowing him to illegally increase his profit margin via environmental fraud. He successfully prosecuted several golfing buddies for trading on inside information about American Superconductor.

On February 8, 2021, along with 55 other Trump-era attorneys, Lelling was asked to resign. Lelling announced his resignation on February 10, 2021, effective February 28. Lelling joined Cleveland-based law firm Jones Day following his resignation. In late 2021, it was reported that he was considering a run for Massachusetts' Republican gubernatorial nomination, but he ultimately decided not to.

Notable prosecutions

2019 college admissions bribery scandal (Operation Varsity Blues)

In 2019, Lelling announced charges in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal and led the prosecution. The ringleader, William Singer, pled guilty to multiple charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice and multiple parents were indicted.

Indictment of Massachusetts trial court judge

In April 2019, Lelling indicted Massachusetts trial court judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and now-retired Court Officer Wesley MacGregor on obstruction of justice charges arising from an April 2, 2018, incident where the judge and the court officer allegedly helped a twice-deported illegal alien who had again illegally entered the U.S. to evade arrest from the Newton District Court. Lelling said at the news conference announcing the indictments, "We did not bring this case in response to the public debate over immigration enforcement. There are reasonable arguments on both sides of that debate, but this isn't a policy seminar, it's a law enforcement action."

The case was controversial. Former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice Geraldine S. Hines said of Lelling's decision to prosecute that “Maybe he’s trying to get on Trump’s radar for whatever reason, and this is certainly the kind of thing that’s going to get attention in Washington...it’s a way to get yourself noticed.” In contrast, former senior U.S. Justice Department official Ralph Boyd, Jr., wrote an op-ed for the Boston Globe praising Lelling, saying the prosecution was “principled,” and that “it’s rare to find public servants willing to enforce the law regardless of status, privilege, or political considerations.”

Participation in the China initiative

In November 2018 Lelling was asked to work with certain other U.S. Attorneys and senior officials at the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to create the “China Initiative.” The initiative was designed to combat what administrations from both U.S. political parties have viewed as an ongoing threat posed by the Chinese government and China-based companies stealing or otherwise siphoning off U.S. trade secrets and technology. Over time some criticized the initiative, alleging that it was in fact targeting people based on race or ethnicity. '' ''

Lelling oversaw the two most prominent cases brought under the initiative.  In January 2020, Lelling announced the indictment of Prof. Charles M. Lieber, the head of Harvard University’s Chemistry Department, for hiding financial ties to China from the U.S. government.  Lieber was not of Chinese ancestry. '' ''In December 2021, Lieber was convicted at trial on all counts.  In January 2021, Lelling announced the indictment of MIT professor Gang Chen, charging him of hiding ties with China in a grant application under the US Department of Justice (DOJ) China Initiative. Officials at the Department of Energy, the funding agency for the grant, later said that Chen had no obligation to declare the affiliations. In January 2022, the charges against Chen were dropped by the DOJ.

Personal life

Lelling is married to Massachusetts juvenile court judge Dana Gershengorn and they have two children.

References

External links

Biography at U.S. Department of Justice

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lelling, Andrew
1970 births
Living people
21st-century American lawyers
Assistant United States Attorneys
Binghamton University alumni
Federalist Society members
Massachusetts lawyers
People from Sharon, Massachusetts
United States Attorneys for the District of Massachusetts
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni