Sigal Pearl Mandelker (born 1971) is an American lawyer and former government official who served as

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence The Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is a position within the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for directing the Treasury's efforts to cut the lines of financial support for terrorists, fight financial c ...

from 2017 to 2019. In October 2019, she stepped down from the position to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Following her position with the US Treasury Department, Sigal Mandelker joined Silicon Valley investment firm Ribbit Capital as a General Partner.

Early life and education

A child of

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivors, Mandelker was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She received her B.A. from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1993 and her J.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

in 2000.

Career

Mandelker was a law clerk for

Edith Jones Edith Hollan Jones (born April 7, 1949) is a United States circuit judge and the former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Jones was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on February 27, 1985, to a new seat ...

at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...

at the Supreme Court of the United States. She worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as Assistant U.S. Attorney before becoming Counsel to the

Deputy Attorney General The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) is the second-highest-ranking official in a department of justice or of law, in various governments of the world. In those governments, the deputy attorney general oversees the day-to-day operation of the departme ...

, where she worked on national security and counterterrorism. She was Counselor to the

Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

before she worked in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice as Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

Department of Justice

In 2008, while in the criminal division of the Department of Justice, Mandelker was part of the team of high ranking DOJ officials who agreed not to pursue federal charges against sexual predator

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...

. The deal allowed Epstein to spend only about a year in jail and plead guilty only to state crimes, avoiding federal charges entirely. Victims have long claimed that federal agreement not to prosecute Epstein violated their rights by not informing them of the plea deal. This matter is currently pending appeal before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2019, Epstein was later brought up on federal charges and charged with sexually abusing dozens of children.

Private Practice

Mandelker was a partner at

Proskauer Rose Proskauer Rose LLP (formerly known as Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, LLP) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in twelve offices worldwide. P ...

before leaving in 2017.

Under Secretary of the Treasury

In March 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

nominated Mandelker for the position of

. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

with a vote of 96–4 on June 21, 2017. Mandelker played a significant role in the Trump administration's

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

policy, overseeing the implementation of financial

sanctions against Iran There have been a number of sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia following its inva ...

and financial crime enforcement against Iran. Mandelker was one of the Trump administration's "most hawkish members on Iran." Mandelker drew bipartisan praise for her work applying new authorities given to the Treasury Department, through The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, to sanction individuals and entities responsible for human rights violations or acts of significant corruption. Included in these sanctions were those applied in 2017 and again in 2018 against billionaire Dan Gertler and his companies as a result of his “opaque and corrupt” mining and oil deals in the Congo. These sanctions severely limited his global business acumen as he was refused access to the US banking system and other financial institutions concerned with violating American law. In October 2019, Mandelker stepped down from this position and was succeeded by

Justin Muzinich Justin George Muzinich (born November 5, 1977) is an American businessman and former Donald Trump administration official who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, from December 2018 to January 2021. Muzinich previously s ...

as acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Mandelker announced plans to pursue opportunities in the private sector.

Memberships

Mandelker is a member of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, and

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

s, as well as the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

. She is also a member of the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

Council.

Personal life

Mandelker lives in New York.

References

External links

Treasury Department biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mandelker, Sigal Living people American lawyers University of Michigan Law School alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni United States Department of Justice lawyers Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States United States Department of Homeland Security officials United States Department of the Treasury officials Federalist Society members Trump administration personnel Proskauer Rose partners Jewish American government officials 1971 births