Preetinder S. Bharara was born in Ferozepur, India, and he was an infant when his parents immigrated to the United States in 1970. He grew up in Monmouth County, N.J., and graduated from Harvard in 1990 and Columbia Law School in 1993. That summer, he worked for several weeks as a volunteer in Mark Green’s campaign for public advocate, occasionally driving the candidate to campaign events. He has reflected on his roots and the improbable journey his family took to get to this country.
His father, a Sikh, and his mother, who was Hindu, were born in what is now Pakistan, before India and Pakistan were separate countries. In the violent migration that occurred after the 1947 partition, his father and mother both moved to the Indian side, with their families losing property and most of their possessions, Mr. Bharara …show more content…
“Four different families, practicing four different faiths — all compelled to flee a half century ago because of their religion,” Mr. Bharara said in a speech to the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2007. “It also means,” he joked, “that even
Canfield 2 when my wife fasts for Yom Kippur, and my father­ in ­law fasts for Ramadan, I get to stuff my face with samosas all day.” In 2000, after about six years in private practice, Mr. Bharara became a Southern District prosecutor, first under Mary Jo White, and later under James B. Comey. For five years, he prosecuted organized crime, narcotics and securities fraud, among other crimes.
While attending the Law School, Bharara served as a member of the Columbia Law Review. Bharara worked as a litigation associate in New York City until 2000, when he was chosen by then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Mary Jo White ’74 to serve as an assistant U.S. Attorney in her office. For the next five years, he focused mainly on the prosecution of organized crime and narcotics