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.