Born on July 31, 1919 in New York City, Robert Morgenthau is an American lawyer who is recognized as the nation’s leading prosecutor. He is currently the District Attorney for New York County, New York, which, except for several exclusions, is coextensive with the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. Morgenthau has been holding the said position since 1975 and both his tenure and experience have made him a national icon.

Robert Morris Morgenthau graduated from Amherst College and then enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served for four and a half years during World War II, obtaining the final rank of Lieutenant Commander and earning a Bronze and Gold Star. After which, Morgenthau entered Yale Law School where he graduated in 1948. Following graduation, he practiced corporate law for 12 years in a private New York law firm and was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for which he served for eight and a half years. During his stint as a U.S. Attorney, Morgenthau was responsible for effectively combating corruption, organized crime, white-collar crime, and tax fraud. Additionally, he created a special unit that investigated securities fraud and he also prosecuted highly publicized bribery cases against city officials, accountants, and IRS attorneys.

As District Attorney of New York County, Robert Morgenthau continually kept his vigorous antics in pursuing prosecutions. In 1994, he pushed for the prosecution of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), which was a major international bank involved in what was considered to be the world’s worst financial scandal, the “$20-billion-plus heist.” Robert Morgenthau announced that a Manhattan grand jury had prosecuted BCCI, Abedi and Naqvi (the bank’s founder and CEO respectively), on 12 counts of fraud, money laundering and larceny. Robert Morgenthau described it as “the largest bank fraud in world financial history.”

Robert Morgenthau was also responsible for the prosecution of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski who was convicted of a $400-million misappropriation of the company’s funds.

In his years of exceptional experience, Robert Morgenthau has received several honors and awards including the Distinguished Public Service Award by the New York County Lawyer’s Association; the Gold Medal “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York”; and the Thomas Jefferson Award in Law from the University of Virginia.