A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a challenge to the appointment of New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
Matthew Brann, the chief judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, ruled U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer’s appointment by U.S. Court for the District of New Jersey judges last month was lawful. Brann also declined to unwind the case against a Florida man awaiting sentencing over Medicare and insurance fraud convictions who claimed Frazer’s appointment was unlawful.
“The Judges of the District of New Jersey lawfully appointed Robert Frazer as United States Attorney,” Brann wrote.
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He presided over the case to avoid conflicts between the Trump administration and the New Jersey judges empowered by law to appoint a U.S. attorney in cases of deadlock.
District court judges appointed Frazer in March following a monthslong standoff with the Trump administration over who led the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Prior to Frazer’s appointment, the office’s leadership had fallen into disarray. President Donald Trump named Alina Habba to the position last year, but the U.S. Senate declined to take up her nomination, triggering statutes that direct the district’s judges to appoint a top prosecutor.
The Court selected then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace for the seat, but Trump immediately fired her and purported to reappoint Habba to the role. Habba’s reappointment was voided in August when Brann found she had “no legal authority.”
A trio of lawyers — Jordan Fox, Ari Fontecchio, and Philip Lamparello — then led the office as a triumvirate, but they too were disqualified by Brann.
Frazer’s appointment came after New Jersey District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi scheduled a hearing where the trio was to testify about who was in charge of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Quraishi canceled that hearing following Frazer’s appointment.
The challenge to Frazer’s appointment was lodged by Raheel Naviwala, a Florida man convicted last February of defrauding roughly $100 million from Medicare and other insurers. He is awaiting sentencing and had previously challenged the trio’s leadership.
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