United States Attorney To Leave Office

BATON ROUGE, LA – United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr. announced today that he will be relinquishing his post as United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana effective July 1, 2013. After his resignation, he plans to join a private law practice in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area.

“It has been an enormous privilege to serve the Middle District of Louisiana as its U.S. Attorney,” Cazayoux stated. “This office, with its wonderful women and men, represents the best of public service. Being part of our great justice system, with its many dedicated local, state and federal law enforcement personnel, has been an honor. While it is personally the right time to leave for my family and me, I do so with utmost humility and gratitude for this opportunity to serve, given to me by the President and the Attorney General, at the recommendation of Senator Landrieu.”

As U.S. Attorney, Cazayoux’s priorities have been protecting Americans from terrorism and threats to national security, combating violent crime, and fighting public corruption and fraud. Cazayoux has supervised the prosecution of financial, health care, and disaster fraud. Protecting the country’s vulnerable populations – children, the elderly, hate crime victims, and victims of human trafficking and exploitation – has also been a focus of Cazayoux.

Cazayoux joined District Attorney Hiller Moore and state and local law enforcement to curtail violent crime in the City of Baton Rouge through the Brave Initiative, a community-policing effort aimed to disrupt gang activity. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force flourished during his tenure, with over ninety-eight defendants charged with drug trafficking offenses and over $1,455,000 in property and money seized in connection with these offenses.

The Health Care Strike Force, under Cazayoux’s leadership, indicted sixty-nine defendants for committing health care fraud offenses. Over $32,400,000 was ordered to be paid back to victims, including federal agencies.

Cazayoux oversaw the public corruption prosecution and conviction of several high-profile defendants. These include: Deputy Commissioner for the Louisiana Department of Insurance; Director of Governor’s Program on Abstinence; Program Manager for Governor’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities; Attorney for Municipal Police Employee’s Retirement System of Louisiana; Mayor of St. Gabriel and President of the National Conference of Black Mayors; Mayor of Port Allen; Mayor of White Castle; Mayor of New Roads; Port Allen Chief of Police; Port Allen City Council Member; and Baton Rouge City Court Clerk.

During his term, Cazayoux ensured that over $17,600,000 in criminal and civil collections were collected by the Civil Division and returned to victims of crimes, the United States Treasury and other federal agencies.

Cazayoux is also the Executive Director of the National Center for Disaster Fraud (“NCDF”), located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The National Center for Disaster Fraud currently coordinates disaster fraud prevention and investigations for all Presidential disaster declarations in the United States.

The Middle District of Louisiana is a nine-parish region that includes the following parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana. The United States Attorney's Office is responsible for representing the federal government in virtually all of the litigation involving the United States in the Middle District of Louisiana, including all criminal prosecutions for violations of federal law, civil lawsuits against the government, and actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and taxpayers.

Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr. is a native of New Roads, Louisiana. He earned his B.S. and M.A. from Louisiana State University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law School in 1991. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 18th district in 1999 where he served until 2008. Cazayoux was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Louisiana’s 6th District, and served in Congress until January 2009. He was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana in June 2010.