Trump sacks Preet Bharara, but who's he and why was he sacked?

The India-born has lived the 'American dream' making it to the upper echelons of the legal world.

India-born US attorney Preet Bharara was "fired" recently by the Trump administration after he refused to quit following orders to the 46 Obama administration-appointed attorneys to resign immediately.
"I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honour of my professional life," Bharara tweeted from his personal verified Twitter account, making a reference to his jurisdiction the Southern District of New York.
So, who is Bharara?
Here are things to know about the prolific federal prosecutor
- The 48-year-old is one of the most high-profile federal prosecutors in the US known for crusading against public corruption.
- He was born in Ferozepur, India in 1968 - to a Sikh father and Hindu mother
- Received a B.A magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1990 and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1993.
- Bharara has served 7 years as the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, a jurisdiction that includes Trump Tower.
- Bharara has made a national and international mark for himself with many high-profile cases and investigations including foreign countries, insider trading and those involving US politicians.
- He played a vital role in bringing criminal cases against the bosses of the Gambino crime family, Colombo crime family, and Asian gangs in New York City.
- At one point in 2014, Bharara was speculated as being a potential candidate as the next United States Attorney General after Eric Holder resigned.
- Some of the high-profile terrorist figures convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment during Bharara's term include Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Khalid al-Fawwaz and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Osama bin Laden aides who plotted the 1998 United States embassy bombings that killed 224 people and Faisal Shahzad, the attempted Times Square bomber.
- His office came to the limelight in 2013 with the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, the Deputy Consul General of India in New York, who was accused by prosecutors of submitting false work visa documents for her housekeeper and paying the housekeeper "far less than the minimum legal wage.
Bharara later clarified that it was the US Department of State, rather than his office, which had initiated and investigated proceedings against Khobragade and who asked his office to prosecute.
- In 2012, he was named by Time magazine as one of 'The 100 Most Influential People in the World'
- Bharara is a lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan, and even mentions it in his Twitter bio.
yousufk@khaleejtimes.com

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