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Rakoff 1
Jed S. Rakoff
Jed Saul Rakoff (born August 1, 1943) is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.[1]
Biography
Rakoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania January 1, 1943. Nominated by President Bill Clinton on October 11,
1995, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 29, 1995, was appointed on January 4, 1996, and
entered on duty on March 1, 1996 to a seat vacated by David N. Edelstein. Rakoff graduated with honors in English
literature from Swarthmore College (B.A. 1964), earned his M. Phil. from Balliol College at Oxford University
(1966). He received a J.D.,cum laude, from Harvard Law School (1969). He has received honorary degrees from
Saint Francis University and from Swarthmore.[2] [3]
After serving as law clerk to the late Honorable Abraham Freedman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit, Rakoff spent two years in private practice at Debevoise & Plimpton before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office
for the Southern District of New York. He spent seven years with the Office, the last two as Chief of the Business
and Securities Fraud Prosecutions Unit. He then returned to private practice where he was a partner first with
Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon, and then with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He headed both
firms' criminal defense and civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) sections.
Since 1988, Rakoff has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching a Fall semester seminar on White
Collar Crime, and a Spring semester seminar on the Interplay of Civil and Criminal Law. He is a leading authority
on the law of white collar crime, and has authored many articles on the topic, as well as leading treatises on RICO
and corporate sentencing. Speaking about the federal mail fraud statute, Rakoff wrote, "To federal prosecutors of
white-collar crime, the mail fraud statute is our Stradivarius, our Colt .45, our Louisville Slugger, our Cuisinart --
and our true love. We may flirt with [other laws] and call the conspiracy law 'darling,' but we always come home to
the virtues of [mail fraud], with its simplicity, adaptability, and comfortable familiarity. It understands us and, like
many a foolish spouse, we like to think we understand it."[4] Judge Rakoff also serves on the Governing Board of the
MacArthur Foundation's Law & Neuroscience Project.[5]
Swarthmore, in conferring his honorary degree, noted that Rakoff is "broadly recognized as a legal thinker, scholar
and judge who not only elucidates and enforces the law, but interprets, defends and challenges it in light of the
principles of ethics and social justice that it is designed to serve" and that his opinions "are cited as models of
intellectual clarity and judicial vision by lawyers and judges throughout this nation."
Judge Rakoff's younger brother, Todd, is a professor at Harvard Law School.[6]
Notable cases
"Known as a maverick in legal circles, Judge Rakoff has in the past found the death penalty illegal, inserted himself
into corporate governance reform at WorldCom, and pushed for the release of documents in private settlements."[7]
(S.D.N.Y. 2002)[8] Although his opinion was heralded by the New York Times as "a cogent, powerful argument that
all members of Congress - indeed, all Americans - should contemplate," the decision was subsequently reversed by
the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, United States v. Quinones, 313 F.3d 49 (2d Cir. 2002).[9]
Aguinda v. Texaco
Judge Rakoff presided over a class action lawsuit against Texaco, brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act, by a
class of Ecuadoreans, including several indigenous tribes, claiming that Texaco caused extensive destruction to the
Oriente rainforest. Judge Rakoff dismissed the case on forum non conveniens grounds, writing "While reserving
final decision on this motion, the Court is tentatively of the view that, if Ecuador provides an adequate alternative
forum, it is the proper place to try these cases, with the Peruvian plaintiffs afforded the alternative of a Peruvian
forum if they so prefer. Indeed, the voluminous record before the Court demonstrates that these cases… have
everything to do with Ecuador and very little to do with the United States. Moreover, the notion that a New York
jury (which plaintiffs have demanded) applying Ecuadorian law (which likely governs the claims here made) could
meaningfully assess what occurred in the Amazonian rainforests of Ecuador in the late 1960s and early 1970s is
problematic on its face..."
Jed S. Rakoff 3
SEC v. WorldCom
Rakoff presided over the Securities and Exchange Commission's accounting fraud suit against WorldCom, and, on
July 7, 2003, approved a settlement between the SEC and Worldcom.[22] Rakoff appointed Richard C. Breeden,
former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve as Corporate Monitor. Breeden actively involved
himself in the management of the company, and prepared a report for Judge Rakoff, titled Restoring Trust, in which
he proposed extensive corporate governance reforms, as part of an effort to "cast the new MCI into what he hoped
would become a model of how shareholders should be protected and how companies should be run."[23] The reforms
were implemented, and Rakoff later credited Breeden with "helping to transform a fraud-ridden company into an
honest, well-governed, economically viable entity, MCI, Inc." WorldCom was purchased by Verizon in January
2006.
References
[1] Federal Judicial Center Bio of Jed Saul Rakoff (http:/ / www. fjc. gov/ servlet/ tGetInfo?jid=1957), US Department of Justice
[2] Jed Rakoff '64: Honorary Degree Citation (http:/ / www. swarthmore. edu/ news/ commencement/ 2003/ rakoff2. html), Swarthmore College,
June 1, 2003
[3] Jed S. Rakoff '64: Commencement Address (http:/ / www. swarthmore. edu/ news/ commencement/ 2003/ rakoff. html), Swarthmore College,
June 1, 2003
[4] Jed S. Rakoff, The Federal Mail Fraud Statute (Part 1), 18 Duq. L. Rev. 771 (1980)
[5] "MacArthur Foundation's Law & Neuroscience Project, Governance" (http:/ / www. lawandneuroscienceproject. org/ governance. php). .
Retrieved 2009-09-11.
[6] "HLS : Faculty Directory" (http:/ / www. law. harvard. edu/ faculty/ directory/ facdir. php?id=53). Harvard Law School. . Retrieved
2007-12-29. "Todd D. Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law"
[7] Louise Story, Plain Talk From Judge Weighing Merrill Case, New York Times, August 23, 2009 (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2009/ 08/ 24/
business/ 24judge. html)
[8] United States of America v. Alan Quinones et al. (http:/ / www. nysd. uscourts. gov/ rulings/ quinones. pdf), US Department of Justice, 205 F.
Supp. 2d 256 (S.D.N.Y. 2002)
[9] Benjamin Weiser, A Legal Quest Against the Death Penalty; Chance of Error Is Too Great, Even for a Murder Victim's Brother (http:/ /
www. nytimes. com/ 2005/ 01/ 02/ nyregion/ 02judge. html?ex=1262408400& en=f70e950e80e2403f& ei=5090& partner=rssuserland), New
York Times, January 2, 2005
[10] Judge Orders Release of Gitmo Detainee IDs (http:/ / www. boston. com/ news/ nation/ articles/ 2006/ 01/ 23/
judge_orders_release_of_gitmo_detainee_ids/ ), Boston Globe, January 23, 2006
[11] Thom Shanker, Pentagon Plans to Tell Names of Detainees (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2006/ 02/ 26/ politics/ 26gitmo. html), New York
Times, February 26, 2006
[12] AP v. United States DOD, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2456 S.D.N.Y. January 23, 2006 ( download (http:/ / www. justicescholars. org/ pegc/
archive/ AP_v_DoD/ opinion_20060123. pdf))
[13] US to release partial list of Guantanamo detainees (http:/ / today. reuters. com/ news/ articlenews. aspx?type=topNews&
storyid=2006-03-03T215154Z_01_N03536159_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO. xml), Reuters, March 3, 2006
[14] Reprocessed Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) and Administrative Review Board (ARB) Documents Released March 3, 2006:
Testimony of Detainees Before the Combatant Status Review Tribunal (http:/ / www. dod. mil/ pubs/ foi/ detainees/ csrt_arb/ index. html), US
Department of Defense, March 3, 2006
[15] Details of Some Guantanamo Hearings (http:/ / www. washingtonpost. com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2006/ 03/ 05/ AR2006030500421.
html), Washington Post, March 5, 2006
[16] Varied Tales Emerge From Guantanamo Files (http:/ / www. globalsecurity. org/ org/ news/ 2006/ 060305-gitmo-tales. htm), Global
Security, March 5, 2006
[17] Timeline of AP's Guantanamo-Related Suit (http:/ / www. washingtonpost. com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2006/ 03/ 04/ AR2006030400759.
html), Washington Post, March 4, 2006
[18] Guantanamo Inmates Despair of Ever Leaving (http:/ / www. blythe-systems. com/ pipermail/ nytr/ Week-of-Mon-20060306/ 033083.
html), The Associated Press March 5, 2006
[19] In Guantanamo Bay Documents, Prisoners Plead for Release: US Makes First Public Accounting of Detainees (http:/ / www.
washingtonpost. com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2006/ 03/ 04/ AR2006030401183. html), Washington Post, March 5, 2006]
[20] Documents Reveal the Stories of Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (http:/ / www. latimes. com/ news/ printedition/
la-na-gitmo4mar04,1,2030726. story?ctrack=1& cset=true), L.A. Times, March 4, 2006
[21] Larry Neumeister (May 5, 2008). "NY appeals court weighs IDs of abused Guantanamo detainees" (http:/ / www. ap. org/ foi/ foi_051208a.
htm). Associated Press. . Retrieved 2008-05-05. "Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Wolstein told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that
Judge Jed S. Rakoff in Manhattan erred in 2006 when he ordered the names released, finding in favor of a Freedom of Information Act request
Jed S. Rakoff 5
External links
• United States District Court for the Southern District (http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/)
• Jed S. Rakoff (http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/nGetInfo?jid=1957&cid=999&ctype=na&instate=na) at the
Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
Article Sources and Contributors 6
License
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