After being appointed pursuant to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Adam L. Braverman was sworn in this week as the new Interim United States Attorney, pending his official nomination by the Trump Administration and confirmation by the Senate.

Braverman replaces Alana Robinson, who served as acting U.S. Attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties since January of this year.

During her tenure, she mounted operations against fentanyl use, gangs, and criminal groups involved in mass shopping center burglaries.

Braverman has been a federal prosecutor in San Diego since 2008, and has spent much of his career pursuing international drug-trafficking cartels.

During his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he led one of the Department of Justice’s most successful investigations and prosecutions of the Sinaloa Cartel, which resulted in the indictments of more than 125 people, including the command and control structure of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Having been sworn in as the top federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California, his work will focus on prosecuting federal crimes such as those related to terrorism, corruption, child exploitation, firearms, immigration, and drugs.

“I intend to support all the excellent work that is underway in this office, and also to pursue new, comprehensive, long-term solutions to our most challenging issues – particularly those crimes committed by transnational criminal organizations,” said the new U.S. Attorney.

Braverman, a native of Columbus, Ohio, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice from The George Washington University in 1997 and his law degree from The George Washington University School of Law in 2000.

Braverman has been the recipient of numerous significant awards, including a Justice Department honor for superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 2017 and the prestigious J. Michael Bradford Award from the National Association of Former United States Attorneys in 2016.

His experience against transnational crime organizations is expected to play a key role in his work in San Diego and imperial counties, particularly in light of an anticipated increase in illegal drug shipments from Mexico and other countries to Southern California, as well as the drug use crisis currently being faced by federal, state, and local authorities.