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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Janet Reno today selected Scott Fredericksen to be the chief prosecutor of the Campaign Financing Task Force. Fredericksen will replace David Vicinanzo, who has returned to New Hampshire to be with his family. Vicinanzo, who remains with the Justice Department as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Hampshire, has agreed to serve as a consultant to the Task Force.

Fredericksen, who is expected to begin next month, served as an Associate Independent Counsel from 1991 through 1994, investigating allegations of fraud at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under former Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, Jr.

Prior to that, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Alexandria, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Currently he is a partner at the Seattle firm of Stoel Rives, where he is engaged in white collar criminal defense, general civil litigation and employment litigation.

"Scott has a tremendous breadth of experience both as a career prosecutor and more recently in private practice. He is very well suited to take on the challenge," said Reno. "With Scott, we will be able to continue building on the progress the Task Force has already made."

Reno established the Task Force in the fall of 1996 to investigate allegations of campaign financing abuses in the 1996 election cycle. To date, 19 individuals have been charged.

"This is an outstanding choice," said Joseph DiGenova, former U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., where Fredericksen served. "Scott was one of the finest Assistant U.S. Attorneys I ever hired, and who served under me. He is a superb professional who understands the role of a prosecutor."

"Scott is a thorough investigator and an outstanding trial lawyer," said State Circuit Court Judge Henry Hudson, former U.S. Attorney in Alexandria, where Fredericksen also served. "He has balanced judgment and the litigation skills that will serve the Department well."

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