Court appoints Dominick S. Gerace II as U.S. Attorney

CINCINNATI – The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued an order effective today unanimously re-appointing Dominick S. Gerace II as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. 

In August, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi named Mr. Gerace as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. Pursuant to the Vacancy Reform Act, the Attorney General has the authority to name a U.S. Attorney to serve on an interim basis for up to 120 days. After that time, the district court may appoint a U.S. Attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled through Senate confirmation. President Donald J. Trump nominated Mr. Gerace as U.S. Attorney in July and his nomination remains pending in the Senate.

“I am grateful to the district court for its vote of confidence in my leadership and honored to continue to serve as U.S. Attorney,” Gerace said. “While I am proud of what this office has accomplished during the last 120 days, our job is never done. We will continue to work tirelessly to protect the public and ensure the safety of our communities here in Southern Ohio.”

As the court-appointed U.S. Attorney, Mr. Gerace will continue to serve as the chief federal law enforcement officer representing the United States in all federal criminal and civil litigation in the Southern District of Ohio. The district covers the 48 southern-most counties in the state of Ohio and is home to more than five million people. Mr. Gerace leads a staff of approximately 100 prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel across three offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton.

Mr. Gerace is a former federal prosecutor with nearly a decade of experience in both the Southern District of Ohio and the Eastern District of Virginia, where he prosecuted cases involving national security, domestic and international terrorism, international drug trafficking, violent crime, bank and wire fraud, public corruption, tax evasion and money laundering. He previously served as Deputy Criminal Chief of the district’s Dayton office.

During his time as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Gerace received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security for his work in the federal investigation and prosecution arising from the August 2019 mass shooting in Dayton. He also received the U.S. Attorney’s Award for Outstanding Performance for his service as counsel in the first international terrorism trial held in the district.

Most recently, Mr. Gerace was a Partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, where he practiced in the areas of white-collar criminal defense, government investigations, compliance, and civil litigation.

Mr. Gerace earned his law degree, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Georgetown University, where he was a senior board member of The Georgetown Law Journal and Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal’s Annual Review of Criminal Procedure. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Gerace clerked for the Honorable John M. Rogers of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Mr. Gerace earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the United States Military Academy and served as a tank platoon leader and company executive officer in the United States Army prior to attending law school.

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