The United States Attorney's Office

ANDRÉ BIROTTE JR. SWORN IN AS UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

In a private ceremony this afternoon, André Birotte Jr. was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California.

Birotte was sworn in by United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. in his courtroom in the United States Courthouse in Los Angeles.

Birotte, 43, who had been the Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Department since 2003, now leads the largest United States Attorney’s Office outside of the District of Columbia. The office, which currently employs approximately 275 attorneys, serves more than 18 million residents in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

“It is my great pleasure to be leading what is widely considered to be one of the nation’s premier public law firms,” Birotte said after today’s swearing-in ceremony. “This United States Attorney’s Office has a long tradition of handling some of the most significant cases in the nation, and my goal is to further enhance that tradition.”

After being unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on February 11, Birotte was given a four-year appointment by President Barack Obama. Birotte succeeds George S. Cardona, who served as the Acting United States Attorney  since September 1, 2009, when United States Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien resigned to go into private practice.

Birotte graduated from Tufts University and obtained his law degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law. Birotte’s professional career began at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. From 1995 until 1999, he was an assistant United States attorney who prosecuted numerous violent crime, fraud and narcotics trafficking cases. Birotte was in private practice for a time before joining the Office of Inspector General in 2001.

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