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Press Release

Maryland United States Attorney’s Office Announces Supervisory Appointments

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Erek L. Barron, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced two new senior supervisory appointments.  Alicia N. Washington is joining the office as Special Counsel to the United States Attorney, where she will advise the United States Attorney on matters across the office, especially within the Criminal Division, and on the office’s most complex and sensitive issues.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Sippel, Jr. has been appointed as the Coordinator of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) Mid-Atlantic Region, which covers Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and District of Columbia.

 “I am pleased to make these appointments. The hiring of Alicia Washington and promotion of John Sippel adds greater depth of experience and perspective to our decision-making to better serve Marylanders and the mission of the Department of Justice,” said United States Attorney Erek L. Barron.

Ms. Washington joins the office from the international law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she has served as a litigation partner and member of the firm’s government and internal investigations practice. Prior to her private practice, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York’s Criminal Division, investigating and prosecuting public corruption, white collar, civil rights, violent crime, narcotics, money laundering, firearms, and child exploitation.  Prior to joining the Eastern District of New York, Ms. Washington was an associate at Davis+Gilbert LLP and an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Ms. Washington also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Barbara M. G. Lynn of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Ms. Washington received her law degree from Columbia Law School and her undergraduate degree from Yale University with Honors.

John Sippel has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland since February 2003, first in the Office’s Civil Division, where he handled civil defensive cases and assisted the Financial Litigation Unit, then transitioning to the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Section (now the Violent Organized Crime Section or “VOC”) in July 2007. While serving in the VOC Section, Mr. Sippel has handled a variety of violent crime and drug-related matters, including large-scale narcotics investigations, firearms cases, carjackings, commercial robberies, and racketeering cases. In 2016, Mr. Sippel received the OCDETF National Award for the Mid-Atlantic Region for the investigation and successful prosecution of the Kedrick Jenifer Drug Trafficking Organization. He also serves one of the office’s Ethics Advisors. Mr. Sippel earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Loyola College in Maryland (now Loyola University Maryland). Prior to joining the Office, John was in private practice.

Ms. Washington and Mr. Sippel join a management team that includes, First Assistant United States Attorney Phil Selden; Executive Assistant United States Attorney Lillian N. Stewart; and Counsel to the United States Attorney, David I. Salem. 

As First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Phil Selden helps manage the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States. Mr. Selden began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in 2010, investigating and prosecuting a wide variety of cases, including public corruption, white collar, national security, cybercrime, and violent crime matters.   He has received awards from the Social Security Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and multiple Department of Justice Special Achievement Awards, and received the 2020 Homeland Security Investigations Prosecutor of the Year for his efforts in prosecuting domestic and international corruption.  Before joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Selden worked in private practice handling complex commercial litigation and white collar matters on behalf of Fortune 500 companies.  He began his career working with at-risk youth at the Philadelphia Family Court.  Mr. Selden received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, magna cum laude, his Master’s Degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a Tony Patiño Fellow, and a Paula Jewell Fellow. Mr. Selden has taught as an adjunct faculty member at University of Maryland School of Law, Howard University School of Law, Harvard Law School, and the George Washington University Law School.

Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Lillian Stewart joined the office in March 2023 and oversees the Civil and Administration Divisions.  Previously, Ms. Stewart served as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas; Assistant General Counsel handling civil litigation for the FBI General Counsel’s Office; and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, where she worked in the Civil Division handling various affirmative and defensive civil matters including False Claims Act, Healthcare Fraud and Civil Rights investigations.  Ms. Stewart earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School, and her undergraduate degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Tennessee.

David Salem was appointed as Counsel to the United States Attorney in January 2023, and has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Maryland’s Greenbelt office since November 1990, serving first in the Civil Division before switching to the Criminal Division in 1994.  Since then, Mr. Salem has tried more than 50 felony cases, focusing most recently in areas of white collar and national security matters and served as Senior Litigation Counsel and Collateral Litigation Chief.  David also has trained law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense bar and judges in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; Kiev, Ukraine; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; and Tbilisi, Georgia.  He received his joint JD-MBA from the University of Maryland.  David was the recipient of numerous Department of Justice and office awards, including the 2020 Deborah A. Johnston Award; the 2015 Department of Justice Award for Criminal Prosecution for United States v. Mikerin; the 2004 Gary Jordan Award; the 2004 Inspector General Integrity Award for contributions to health care fraud prosecutions; and the 1998 Chief Postal Inspector’s Award for United States v. Bosah

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Contact

Marcia Lubin
(410) 209-4854

Updated January 24, 2024

Topic
Office and Personnel Updates