Story Published:
Nov 6, 2009 at 6:35 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Nov 6, 2009 at 5:38 PM EDT
BOSTON (AP) - Carmen Ortiz has been confirmed as the U.S.
attorney for Massachusetts, becoming the first Hispanic and the
first woman to hold the top federal prosecutor's job in the state.
Ortiz, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecutes white-collar
crime, was nominated by President Obama in September and confirmed
by the U.S. Senate late Thursday. She succeeds Michael Sullivan, a
Republican who was appointed by President Bush in 2001 and left the
job earlier this year.
Ortiz told The Associated Press in an interview in May that her
priorities as U.S. attorney would include terrorism cases,
financial crimes, public corruption cases and gang violence.
"I am excited about the challenges that lie ahead and committed
to fulfilling the trust reflected in my appointment," Ortiz said
in a statement released Friday.
Ortiz, whose parents are from Puerto Rico, is the oldest of five
children and grew up in the Spanish Harlem neighborhood of New York
City. She attended Adelphi University and received her law degree
from George Washington University Law School in 1981.
For the past 12 years, she has worked as an assistant U.S.
attorney, mostly recently specializing in prosecuting economic
crimes, including, embezzlement, tax evasion, investment fraud and
telemarketing schemes.
Earlier in her career, she worked as a state prosecutor in
Middlesex County and as a senior trial attorney at a private law
firm.
In 1992, Ortiz was a member of the "October Surprise" team for
the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which investigated
allegations that the Reagan/Bush campaign of 1980 sought to delay
the release of the hostages in Iran to undermine President Carter's
re-election bid.
She also helped investigate allegations of sexual harassment
made by a Boston Herald sports writer against the New England
Patriots in 1990.
From 1989-91, she worked on the Harvard/Guatemala Criminal
Justice Project, which included collaborating with the judiciary of
Guatemala and other legal professionals on criminal justice reforms
in that country.
Ortiz, who was recommended for the job in May by the late U.S.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, said she and
Kennedy spoke about public service.
"I told Sen. Kennedy that if confirmed, I would make him proud
- and I intend to honor his legacy," she said Friday.
Ortiz's husband, attorney Michael Morisi, died in 2000 after a
long battle with cancer. Since then, Ortiz has raised their two
daughters, now 17 and 22, by herself.
"It's been a challenge, but a good one," she said in the May
interview. "I think I have been able to illustrate to them that
you can have it all, and despite tragedies in life, you still can
have a very fulfilling and happy life."
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