PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate
Release
June 27, 2003
PETER J. AINSWORTH APPOINTED AS
CHIEF OF CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT
FOR UNITED STATES TRUSTEE PROGRAM
WASHINGTON,
D.C.–Peter J. Ainsworth has been appointed as Chief
of the United States Trustee Program’s Criminal Enforcement
Unit, it was announced today by Lawrence Friedman, Director
of the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Ainsworth
will begin working in the Executive Office on July 7, 2003.
“I
am thrilled that Peter Ainsworth is joining the U.S. Trustee
Program as Chief of the Program’s new Criminal Enforcement
Unit,” Friedman stated. “With 17 years of prosecutorial
experience, Peter is well-positioned to guide the Program
as we build upon our efforts to identify, refer, and assist
the United States Attorneys in the prosecution of bankruptcy
fraud.”
“I
am pleased and honored to assume the challenge of designing
and implementing an enhanced criminal enforcement program
for the U.S. Trustee Program,” Ainsworth stated.
Ainsworth
is a career prosecutor who has spent the past 12 years handling
sophisticated white collar fraud cases. Immediately before
his appointment, he served for six years as a Trial Attorney
for the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section,
where he investigated and prosecuted violations of federal
criminal laws by federal, state, and local government officials
nationwide. From 1990 to 1997, Ainsworth was a Trial Attorney
in the Department’s Office of Consumer Litigation, directing
investigations and handling complex white collar criminal
cases and civil enforcement actions involving consumer fraud
and food and drug violations. Before joining the Justice Department,
he was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia and
an Assistant State Attorney in Dade County, Fla.
Ainsworth
has taught classes on investigative and prosecutorial techniques
and theory to local law enforcement officials in foreign countries
such as Nigeria, Nepal, Hungary, and Russia, and has lectured
on public corruption and related topics to numerous foreign
delegations visiting the United States. He has also taught
classes on investigating and prosecuting corruption cases
to senior-level federal prosecutors at the Justice Department’s
National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C.
Ainsworth
received his law degree in 1985 from George Washington University’s
National Law Center in Washington, D.C., and his undergraduate
degree with honors in 1980 from the University of Chicago,
where he also did graduate course work in economics and American
political history.
As
Chief of the Program’s Criminal Enforcement Unit, Ainsworth
will design and manage a national program to increase the
detection and prosecution of fraud and other criminal conduct
within the bankruptcy system. He will coordinate with the
U.S. Attorneys in the referral, development, and prosecution
of cases, and will work closely with federal investigative
agencies. Ainsworth will be assisted in these tasks by Sandra
Rasnak of the Program’s Chicago office, who will serve
as Acting Deputy Chief of Criminal Enforcement. Within the
Program, Ainsworth and Rasnak will lead a team of Regional
Criminal Enforcement Coordinators.
At present, this team consists of Robert Calo of Philadelphia,
who has been appointed Regional Criminal Enforcement Coordinator
to handle cases in the Second and Third Circuits, and Celeste
Miller of Boise, who has been appointed to the same position
handling cases in the Ninth Circuit. Ainsworth
will also serve as Regional Criminal Enforcement Coordinator
for the Program’s Region 4, which consists of Maryland,
the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, and South
Carolina.
The
United States Trustee Program is a component of the Justice
Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system
by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce
the bankruptcy laws. The Program has 21 regions and 95 field
offices.
|