Clinton Will Tap Prosecutor as U.S. Attorney

President Clinton announced Thursday that he will nominate Alejandro N. Mayorkas to become the top federal prosecutor in Southern California.

If confirmed by the Senate, the 38-year-old Cuban native would head the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, overseeing prosecutions in the largest federal judicial district in the country.

A government prosecutor for the past 10 years, Mayorkas will effectively take charge on Monday when outgoing U.S. Atty. Nora Manella is sworn in as a Los Angeles federal judge.

“I am very honored that the White House intends to nominate me to lead this office,” Mayorkas said. “It’s a tremendous privilege.”

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who recommended him for the post, said Mayorkas “has the strength of character and the vision to be an outstanding leader as U.S. attorney.”

Under a power-sharing agreement with the state’s other Democratic senator, Barbara Boxer, Feinstein recommends appointments of federal prosecutors and judges in Los Angeles and Sacramento while Boxer recommends nominees in San Francisco and San Diego.

The U.S. attorney’s office headquartered in Los Angeles employs nearly 240 lawyers and covers a seven-county area stretching from Orange to San Luis Obispo counties.

Since 1996, Mayorkas has served as chief of the general crimes section, to which all new prosecutors are assigned after they are hired.

From 1992 to 1996, he worked in the major frauds section, specializing in prosecuting money-laundering and securities and bank fraud.

He received commendations for his role in “Operation Money Cap,” a $300-million international money-laundering conspiracy case, and for his work as coordinator of the Southern California Boilerroom Task Force, which investigated investor fraud in Southern California.

Mayorkas earlier was assigned to the Asset Forfeiture Section, using civil laws to seize cash and other property accumulated by drug traffickers and white collar criminals.

Before joining the federal prosecutor’s office, he was a litigation associate with the Los Angeles firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler.

He has lectured nationally on criminal law and civil forfeiture and taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

He came to the United States from Cuba as an infant with his family in 1960, a year after Fidel Castro took power. Raised in Southern California, he received an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola.