Acting United States Attorney Appointed For The Middle District Of Pennsylvania

 HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Bruce D. Brandler has been appointed Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania effective January 2, 2021.  Mr. Brandler was appointed upon the resignation of former United States Attorney David J. Freed, which became effective at midnight on January 1, 2021.  Mr. Brandler’s appointment is for three hundred days or until a Presidential appointment is made, whichever occurs first.

Mr. Brandler previously served as United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania between October 2, 2016, and November 26, 2017.  He was first appointed to the position by former Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on October 2, 2016, and then reappointed by Order of the District Court Judges on January 30, 2017.  Mr. Brandler served as First Assistant United States Attorney under former United States Attorney David J. Freed between November 27, 2017, and January 1, 2021.

Mr. Brandler began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, where he served from 1981 until 1985.  Upon leaving the District Attorney’s Office, he became the Deputy Chief and then the Chief Investigative Counsel of the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations, Taxation and Government Operations from 1985 to 1986.

Mr. Brandler was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 1986 and was promoted to the position of Senior Litigation Counsel in 1992.  In 2014, he became the Chief of the Criminal Division and served in that capacity until his appointment as United States Attorney in October 2016.

During his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Brandler specialized in complex white-collar prosecutions, including high-profile public corruption cases. Some of the notable cases Mr. Brandler prosecuted included a tax evasion case against former Luzerne County Judge Arthur Dalessandro; a perjury case against former State Representative Frank Serafini; a bribery/extortion case against former Lackawanna County Commissioners Robert Cordaro and Anthony Munchak; an illegal campaign contribution and fraud case against Renato Mariani, the former President of Empire Sanitary Landfill, Inc.; a disadvantaged business enterprise fraud case against Joseph Nagle, the former President of Schuylkill Products, Inc.; an accounting fraud case against Paul Polishan, the former Chief Financial Officer for the Leslie Fay Companies, Inc.; and an environmental crimes case against Chemical Waste Management, Inc. for illegal dumping activities at a Superfund site in Lackawanna County.

Mr. Brandler graduated from Stony Brook University in 1978 and received a B.A. in Political Science with honors, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.  He received his law degree in 1981 from the Boston University School of Law.  He resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.