Attorney General Eric Holder Welcomes Confirmation of Kathryn Keneally and Michael E. Horowitz

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder today welcomed the confirmation of Kathryn Keneally as Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division and Michael E. Horowitz as Inspector General for the Justice Department.  Keneally and Horowitz were confirmed yesterday by the U.S. Senate.

“I'm confident Kathryn and Michael will provide strong leadership to the department, and will play an instrumental role in fulfilling our critical mission of protecting the American people,” said Attorney General Holder.  “Kathryn will be integral to our efforts to enforce our nation's tax laws fully and fairly, and Michael will promote integrity, financial austerity and effectiveness in Department of Justice operations.  They are both welcome additions to our senior leadership team."

Keneally most recently worked as a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP in New York. For over 25 years, Keneally represented clients in tax controversies and defended against allegations of tax, securities and bank fraud, money laundering, currency transaction reporting, false statements and other financial crime.

Since 1994, Keneally has chaired numerous committees for the American Bar Association (ABA) Taxation Section.  Most recently, she served vice chair for Committee Operations for the ABA Taxation Section and as co-chair of the ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud and Tax Controversy.  She previously served as chair of the ABA Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee, the ABA Standards of Tax Practice Committee and the ABA Subcommittee on Department of Justice Procedures.

From 1993 to 2008, Keneally served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission Practitioner’s Advisory Group.

Keneally began her legal career in 1982 as the law clerk for U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York Edward R. Neaher.  She received her J.D. from Fordham Law School, her LL.M in Taxation from New York University and her B.S. from Cornell University.

Most recently, Horowitz worked as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft LLP, where he focused on white collar defense, internal investigations and regulatory compliance.

From 2003 to 2009, Horowitz served as a commissioner for the U.S. Sentencing Commission.  As commissioner, Horowitz was instrumental in rewriting guidelines for fraud, antitrust, intellectual property and money laundering offenses and corporate compliance programs.

Horowitz previously worked for the Justice Department in the Criminal Division from 1999 to 2002, when he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and then Chief of Staff.
 
Prior to joining the Criminal Division, Horowitz served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1991 to 1999.  From 1997 to 1999, he was chief of the Public Corruption Unit for the Southern District of New York.  In 1995, he was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for his work on a five-year corruption investigation.

Before joining the department, Horowitz was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton and clerked for Judge John G. Davies of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Horowitz is a board member of the Ethics Resource Center, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. from Brandeis University.