South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Fajardo Orshan steps down as US attorney
Trump appointee served South Florida for more than 2 years
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Ariana Fajardo Orshan has announced her resignation.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio “Tony” Gonzalez, will lead the office as acting U.S. attorney effective Sunday.
The change is commonplace when a new president enters the White House, as Fajardo Orshan explained in a statement released Friday.
“Serving as your United States Attorney has been the privilege and honor of my lifetime. As the first Senate-confirmed woman to lead the office, I find it moving that my tenure ends in March, the month during which we celebrate women’s contributions to society.”
She was nominated by former President Donald Trump and was sworn into office on Sept.
18, 2018, during the longest federal government shutdown in history followed by the COVID19 pandemic in 2019. Despite those and other challenges, Fajardo Orshan listed some of the accomplishments of her office beginning with a guilty verdict and life prison sentence for Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Other successful prosecutions targeted doctors and other health care professionals committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud worth millions; a $1 billion investment pyramid scheme; government corruption and money laundering; child and senior exploitation; COVID-19 relief fraud; and criminal street gang activities, she said.
In closing, Fajardo Orshan also mentioned the violence that, “rocked our nation’s Capitol building on January 6, leading to nationwide investigations and arrests,” and the “tragic killing of two FBI Miami agents while in the line of duty,” in Sunrise on Feb. 2.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Florida International University and her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University. She served as an assistant state attorney and then a circuit judge in Miami-Dade County. She also was an adjunct professor at FIU’s College of Law before becoming U.S. attorney.