Ãngel Franco/The New York Times Preet Bharara.As the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara has prosecuted high-profile political corruption and terrorism cases. But he’s best known for going after some of the world’s biggest hedge funds in his pursuit of corporate criminals.
Among those Mr. Bharara, 44, has prosecuted are two prominent South Asians: Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group, who is serving a 11-year sentence for receiving insider information from Rajat K. Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs director, who received a two-year sentence. (Mr. Gupta has appealed for a new trial.)
Much of Mr. Bharara’s work has been covered extensively by the media, but less attention has been paid to his personal life. For starters, even though Mr. Bharara is referred to as Preet, his full name is Preetinder. He was born in Punjab to a Sikh father and Hindu mother, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was 2. He lives with his wife, who has a Muslim father and Jewish mother, and three children in a New York City suburb.
In a recent interview with India Ink at his office in Manhattan, he spoke about what motivates him, his connection to his Indian roots and how he wants to be remembered after he leaves the job.
You’ve had an exceptionally high success rate in prolific prosecutions, and any such success requires a passion and a drive. What is it that drives you?
I eat a lot of spinach [laughs]. That’s actually not true. I’m not at all good at eating my vegetables. What drives me is the mission of doing what this office has been about from the time it was founded back in 1789, which is that we are making the country a little bit better and a little bit safer.
It’s an exciting thing to come to work here every day, and the nature of the work itself is what drives me. I want to serve and help people. Just because I feel tired at 6 p.m. doesn’t mean that a case is going away.
What’s a typical workweek like for you?
This is the kind of job that doesn’t lend itself to any schedule. I’m up early and e-mailing people and also doing it late at night. I don’t sleep that much and am working on weekends too. I don’t think I’ve gotten eight hours of sleep in a very long time.
There are times when you think it’s going to be quiet, and then a leak will come in that there is someone out there attempting to do some harm to the city. It may end up being baseless, but every single threat that comes in is investigated seriously, and you may think you had a free evening but end up working for the next 36 hours. That happens on a regular basis because that’s the nature of the beast in this job.
Of all the cases you’ve worked on, is there one that is most memorable?
All of the cases are incredibly important, but some do stand out more than others. One that will stay with me in a more dramatic way is the case against Faisal Shahzad. He decided on a Saturday evening in 2010 that he wanted to blow up as many people as possible in Times Square. We stayed up for the next 53 hours until he was in custody, and there was a lot of anxiety about that because he was on the loose.
We learned afterwards that his plan was to keep blowing up people and kill as many Americans as he possibly could. That’s something I remember not only in the time that it was going on but now as well. If he hadn’t been caught when he was, who knows what kind of damage he would have done.
Countering terrorism is a top priority for your office, but your work on Wall Street has gotten all the attention. Is this because your work on the terrorism front hasn’t been covered as much or is it because you feel the corruption on Wall Street is more prevalent today than the threat of terrorism?
I don’t care that much how the press treats the cases, except that I think it’s unfortunate that certain cases don’t get the attention they deserve. I can’t explain how the press operates, and they’re not going to take any advice from me, but it happens to be the case that antiterrorism is the most important priority of the office because the most significant harm can come from terrorism. This city is a target and will always be a target and has been a target in the past, and there is no higher priority than countering the devastation that can be caused by terrorists.
So the press just gloms on to your cases against hedge funds?
Well, yes. There are three networks out there devoted 24/7 to financial news, and there are lots of reporters out there who cover only finance so those are the stories they focus on. Our office has done significant work in other areas such as with gangs, but there aren’t many journalists who cover just gangs or any networks covering only gangs.
Fame has been the side effect of your job. You’ve been on magazine covers, you were the Time magazine Person of the Year last year, and Bruce Springsteen even gave you a shout-out at his concert last year. What is it like being famous?
I don’t think I’m famous at all. I’m not recognized or anything when I walk down the street. If I were, my kids would think I’m really cool, but that’s far from the case. In fact, when I call other offices around the country, I often have to spell out my name, and people have no idea who I am.
Doug Mills/The New York Times Preet Bharara, far right with Senator Chuck Schumer and law clerk Rebecca Kelly in Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2005.What do you want your footprint to be after you leave office?
I would not like people to think of a particular case in association with me long after I leave. What I hope is that I leave the same legacy of the office that was left to me, which is a place where the best attorneys in the country come to make people’s lives better and safer and bring justice in way that works to the highest level of integrity that you can possibly imagine.
How has the South Asian community reacted to you, given that a number of your high-profile prosecutions have been against South Asians?
Well, I still get invited to their parties [laughs]. Seriously though, people are usually polite to my face, but of course people are not happy with some of the ways we prosecute cases. But I feel that’s true in every community. If everyone was happy with everything we did, then we probably wouldn’t be doing our job properly.
Do you ever visit India?
I unfortunately haven’t been back in 13 years. I would really like to go back sometime, but it’s difficult to find the time.
You’re a first-generation immigrant, but your three kids were born in the United States. Is it a priority for you that they know their Indian roots?
I think that it’s important for every family that their children have an appreciation for their roots, whether the roots are in Italy, India, China or wherever. People who don’t appreciate where they are from are not being full Americans, in a way.
In our family, our kids spend time with their grandparents and appreciate certain cultural aspects like the music and food. My family is very diverse and from different backgrounds, and it’s important they appreciate all those backgrounds.
Can you talk a bit about your personal life? What do you do to unwind? What are your hobbies?
I don’t get to unwind very much. I work a lot and have a lot of obligations. When I have a little bit of time, I like to be with my family. We go out to eat as much as we can. And if we go away, we like to take the kids to places where they can learn something like Boston or Philadelphia which have so much history.
I do work out on the weekends mostly but not as much as I should, just like everything else.
What’s on your nightstand right now?
An iPad and a reading lamp, plus stacks of newspapers I need to catch up on reading.
Besides newspapers, what else do you like to read?
I try to read widely and in areas where this office has to focus on, like terrorism and financial news. Beyond that, I read a lot of nonfiction. Most recently, I am reading a great book called “Thinking, Fast and Slow,†which is about behavioral psychology. It fascinates me how people think about problems, risk and fear.
Where do you go for your Indian food fix in New York City?
My favorite Indian restaurant is Tamarind. We are loyal followers. When I lived in the city, I used to order from Baluchi’s, especially their $12.95 special.
(This interview has been lightly edited.)
No comments:
Post a Comment