After getting caught up in a personnel dispute linked to the resignation of U.S. Attorney Todd Gilbert in August, an assistant U.S. attorney stepped aside Friday to take a job for a Roanoke law firm.
Zachary Lee, whose earlier service as second-in-command at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia reportedly irked the administration of President Donald Trump, will start next week as a partner at Gentry Locke.
“As I make my transition from a career in public service to the private sector, I could think of no firm I’d rather join than Gentry Locke,” Lee said in a statement the large practice released to the Roanoke Times early Sunday.
“I am honored to join their well-regarded White Collar Defense, Investigations & Compliance practice and advance the extraordinary reputation that team has already built,” said Lee, who served earlier this year as acting U.S. attorney.
Lee joins a growing list of federal prosecutors to leave office this year, either voluntarily or under pressure. Details on the reason for his departure were not immediately available. An effort to reach Lee last week was unsuccessful.
Gilbert — a former Republican state lawmaker and speaker of the House of Delegates — gave no public explanation for his sudden resignation Aug. 20, about six weeks after he was sworn in following his nomination by Trump.
But according to a person with knowledge of what happened, Gilbert had a falling out with officials in the Trump administration over Lee’s continued service as first assistant U.S. attorney, a position that oversees the day-to-day operations of the office.
Concerned about what they believed to be Lee’s connections to the Democratic Biden administration, Trump officials pushed Gilbert to replace him with someone more aligned with their agenda, the source said.
When Gilbert resisted, Robert Tracci — a former Virginia assistant attorney general and Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney who had earlier been a contender for Gilbert’s job — was appointed to replace Lee. Tracci began work Aug. 4 as the office’s new first assistant U.S. attorney.
An irritated Gilbert then named Lee as senior counsel and executive assistant U.S. attorney, a new position that retained much of the authority of his old job.
Angered by his actions, Trump administration officials gave Gilbert a choice: resign or be fired, according to the source, who asked not to be identified.
When Gilbert resigned, Tracci became acting U.S. attorney by default under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which elevates the first assistant U.S. attorney when there’s a vacancy at the top.
Lee — who worked mostly out of the U.S. attorney’s branch office in Abingdon during his 20 years with the office — was originally named first assistant U.S. attorney by Chris Kavanaugh, the former U.S. attorney who was nominated by then-President Joe Biden.
When Kavanaugh stepped down in December, shortly before Trump began his second term as president, Lee became the acting U.S. attorney and held that position until Gilbert’s arrival.
Not long after taking over, Gilbert decided to appoint Lee as his first assistant rather than have him return to being a line prosecutor in the office.
Lee joined the office in 2005 as a special assistant U.S. attorney and built a strong reputation of prosecuting complex cases involving drugs, firearms, public corruption, violent crimes and other matters. His leadership positions included first assistant and chief of the criminal division.
Over the past two decades, Lee’s cases included the prosecution of a man charged with killing a hiker on the Appalachian Trail and the convictions of multiple people in a corruption case involving Bristol Virginia Utilities.
He previously was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Bristol and a law clerk for U.S. District Judge James Jones.
“Zach has established himself as a leading chief federal law enforcement officer in Virginia and is known widely in the Western District for his exceptional work on matters involving the investigation and prosecution of all manner of federal criminal offenses,” Gentry Locke managing partner Brett Marston said in the firm’s statement.
“He could have chosen to join any firm in the nation, but he selected Gentry Locke because of its strength, reputation, and deep bench in white collar defense,” Marston said.
The law firm has more than 80 attorneys working in a range of disciplines from offices in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk and Lynchburg. Lee will continue to live in far Southwest Virginia and is expected to expand the firm’s reach.
“Gentry Locke provides the right footprint and platform for my practice as I move into this next phase,” he said.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
Be First to Comment