Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah Announces Departure

Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah announced today that he will be resigning from the Justice Department effective October 1.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the 8 million people of North Texas as Acting United States Attorney,” Mr. Shah said. “I was privileged to work with not only the best federal prosecutors in the nation, but to work side-by-side with peerless federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. I am proud to have played a part in this office’s proud legacy of pursuing justice and liberty for all.”

Mr. Shah was named the Acting United States Attorney on January 10, 2021, after previously serving as the First Assistant United States Attorney. The Northern District covers 100 counties, more than 96,000 square miles, and a population of approximately eight million people. Mr. Shah led a staff of approximately 250 people across five division offices and was responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation involving the United States in his district. Under his leadership, the office advanced a number of Justice Department priorities, from violent crime and cybersecurity to corporate fraud and False Claims Act enforcement.

Mr. Shah’s team prosecuted a would-be bomber allegedly plotting to attack Amazon, brought down an $18 million pill mill scheme, and secured a conviction against a real estate developer for bribing two members of the Dallas City Council. The office also successfully tried a trade school owner for operating a $72 million fraud scheme, convicted two men who concealed a capital murder suspect who was on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list, prosecuted an ADT technician for hacking into over 200 customers’ video feeds, and obtained over $22 million through a deferred prosecution agreement with a multinational medical device corporation. They expanded their partnerships with state and local law enforcement, resulting in several successful multi-agency operations that have helped stem the rise of violent crime in North Texas.

The office ran a number of investigations involving cryptocurrency, including extraditing a Serbian national charged with duping crypto investors out of $70 million, obtaining a five-year sentence for the founder of “AriseCoin” for securities fraud, and convicting a man going by the moniker “Dr. Bitcoin” for an illegal cash-to-crypto scheme.

On the civil side, the Northern District resolved a number of False Claims Act matters, including securing a $3.3 million settlement from a hospital, obtaining a $3.1 million settlement from dental management companies, and filing a case against a dermatopathologist who allegedly accepted kickbacks from a lab company.

Prior to serving as Acting U.S. Attorney, Mr. Shah held multiple senior leadership roles at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the civil and criminal work of the Department’s Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax divisions. He also served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Natural Resources Section, directly supervising approximately 75 trial lawyers in high profile environmental investigations and trials across the country. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as chief of staff and chief counsel to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and served as the Senior Counsel to the Attorney General of Texas.

Mr. Shah is looking forward to his next chapter, in private practice in Texas.