States Attorney.

Stephen R. Kaufman

Stephen R. Kaufman – State’s Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Stephen R. Kaufman – State’s Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania

A Prosecutor with almost four decades of service in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania has been appointed as the interim Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman has been named as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, succeeding the departing U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, who has tendered his letter of resignation to President-elect Joe Biden as prompted by an announcement made by Acting U.S. Attorney General Monty Wilkinson on February 9, 2021. Scott Brady is among the 55 remaining U.S. Attorneys. They have been appointed under the tenure of former President Donald Trump and are now being requested to step down, in line with the transition into the new administration. Stephen Kaufman will officially take over in the Office beginning March 1, 2021, and remain seated as temporary Top Federal Prosecutor until a new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania has been approved by the Biden Administration.

 

Appointed State’s Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania

A veteran of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Stephen R. Kaufman, has been named as interim Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official, succeeding the outgoing U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, who has resigned from his position at the request of President-elect Joe Biden. On an all-U.S. Attorney call in the morning of February 9, 2021, Acting U.S. Attorney General Robert M. “Monty” Wilkinson has extended the announcement and instructed the remaining 55 Trump-appointed U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Attorney Brady included, to tender their resignations and step down from their positions on or before February 28, 2021, to allow the nomination and appointment of new Top Federal Prosecutors in the different districts across the nation. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman will then be named Acting U.S. Attorney – in charge of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He shall take over from the departing U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady on March 1, 2021, and remain in the position for the subsequent 300 days or until the Biden Administration has confirmed a new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

 

Educational Background

Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Allegheny College, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in 1981. He has also attended Harvard Law School, graduating Cum Laude in 1984, and simultaneously receiving his Juris Doctorate. U.S. Attorney Kaufman was granted admission to the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1984 and has kept an active membership status ever since.

 

Legal Career – Clerkship and Private Practice

Directly after law school, Acting U.S. Attorney Kaufman served as a Law Clerk under the Honorable Donald E. Ziegler of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He later engaged in the private practice of law, partnering with the former United States Attorney Frederick W. Thieman at the law firms of Titus & McConomy, and later at Thieman & Kaufman.

 

Legal Career – Government Service

Having devoted almost four decades of service as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman remained an invaluable constituent of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania for approximately 33 years. Throughout his tenure in the Office, U.S. Attorney Kaufman has held leadership positions over long periods of time, including being the Criminal Division Chief for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. In the past three years, he served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney to former U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, becoming second-in-command in the United States Attorney’s Office in April of 2018.

 

Notable Prosecutions

United States Attorney Stephen Kaufman first joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1988. In his extensive career as a federal prosecutor,  Kaufman has long proved his practical skills and exceptional knowledge in criminal prosecution. He has excellently handled a broad sort of federal criminal cases, including litigations involving child exploitation, narcotics, violent crime, and white-collar crimes. Among the notable cases which U.S. Attorney Kaufman has managed is the eight-week-long trial of the Pittsburgh La Cosa Nostra organized crime family indicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Apart from the Mafia-related convictions, Acting U.S. Attorney Steve Kaufman has handled numerous other RICO indictments, including the $31.1 million bank fraud case against a candy bar company owner in Pittsburgh, PA. The defendant was successfully convicted for a check-kiting scheme that defrauded the PNC Bank out of millions of dollars. United States Attorney Stephen Kaufman is also acclaimed for his contribution in the December 1988 investigation or prosecution of the 17 defendants allegedly responsible for the distribution of China White – a solid and deadly synthetic heroin – in the Western District of Pennsylvania, which ultimately led to the death of 18 individuals. One of his more recent cases includes the 2012 indictment of a physician who has been charged with healthcare fraud and convicted for intentionally prescribing controlled substances, such as painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone, outside the bounds of its legitimate medical purpose.

 

Teaching Background

On top of being a committed federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman has devoted his time to teaching courses at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law as an Adjunct Faculty. He has taught courses Criminal Procedure, Trial Advocacy, and White-Collar Crime since 1997. He is set to teach White-Collar Crime in the Spring Term of the academic year 2020-2021.

 

Office Jurisdiction

Named as the interim Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Stephen R. Kaufman will then lead the Office of the United States Attorney in its duties of serving the district. In this capacity, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman will manage and oversee a staff of nearly 130 employees, comprising of over 50 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, who work hand-in-hand in prosecuting criminal cases, handling civil litigations, and representing the United States in courts through the 25 counties under the jurisdiction of the Western District of Pennsylvania.

 

Contact Details

Full Name: Stephen R. Kaufman
District/State: Western District of Pennsylvania
Public email ID: steve.kaufman@usdoj.gov

Pittsburgh District Office

United States Attorney’s Office
Joseph F. Weis, Jr.
U.S. Courthouse
700 Grant Street

Suite 4000
Pittsburgh, PA 15219 

(412) 644-3500
Main
(412) 644-4549
Fax

Eric Branch Office

United States Attorney’s Office
Federal Courthouse

Room A330
17 South Park Row
Erie, PA 16501

(814) 452-2906
Main
(814) 455-6951
Fax

Johnstown Branch Office

United States Attorney’s Office
Suite 200 – Penn Traffic Building
319 Washington Street
Johnstown, PA 15901

(814) 533-4547
Main
(814) 533-4545
Fax

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Updated: June 9, 2021

 

Cindy K. Chung is the next State’s Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Her biography can be found here.

Updated: July 2, 2022

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