Top Federal Prosecutor In New York Committed Misconduct, Watchdog Says

A committee of New York state’s appellate court system found last month that John Sarcone, the embattled federal prosecutor leading the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York, committed professional misconduct, according to a Washington-based watchdog organization.

The nature of the misconduct and of the sanctions were unclear.

“The Committee determined there was a sufficient basis for a finding of professional misconduct and took appropriate action,” a letter from Elena Jaffe Tastensen, the chair of the Third Judicial Department’s attorney grievance committee, said. “With this action the matter is concluded.”

A request for comment left with Sarcone’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

Though the letter didn’t disclose the conduct in question, a complaint by the watchdog organization, Campaign for Accountability, filed last August, listed several incidents that have dogged Sarcone.

One, from last June, concerns an altercation Sarcone had with a knife-wielding man outside a hotel in Albany that resulted in Sarcone filing official papers with the local sheriff’s office saying the man threatened his life and motioned “as if he was going to attempt to cut my throat.” According to the complaint, the Albany County district attorney found the surveillance video didn’t support Sarcone’s claims, dropping an attempted murder charge and reducing a weapons violation to a misdemeanor.

The complaint also noted Sarcone’s statements and actions related to his residency after the address he listed on the deposition concerning the altercation was exposed by a local newspaper as a boarded-up building. The watchdog also notified the committee that following a dustup over his residency, Sarcone retaliated against the newspaper, the Albany Times-Union, by removing it from his office’s press distribution list.

Sarcone’s tenure at the U.S. attorney’s office hasn’t been short on drama. He was one of a spate of U.S. attorneys installed by the Trump administration and then disqualified by federal judges who found the administration had used illegal mechanisms to put loyalists in place while circumventing Senate confirmation and judicial appointment processes.

Upon his disqualification, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, appointed by President Barack Obama, also tossed a pair of subpoenas Sarcone had issued to longtime Trump foe New York Attorney General Letitia James related to two politically charged cases: her office’s civil fraud lawsuit against Trump, his two eldest sons, his business associates and his family business; and her office’s civil lawsuit against the National Rifle Association.

The Justice Department is appealing Schofield’s decision.

Despite being disqualified as U.S. attorney, Sarcone has continued to lead the office from its second-in-command post as first assistant U.S. attorney.