White-collar prosecutions are down nationally, but the drop-off in cases in the San Francisco U.S. attorney’s office has been even steeper, The Information reports. In the 1990s, the office accounted for 2.5 percent of all white-collar cases nationally. But in the past 10 years, that figure has dropped nearly in half, with prosecutors turning away more cases than in the past, according to government data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. The office used to have a stellar reputation for white-collar prosecutions, particularly in the late 1990s when it was run by Robert Mueller, now the special counsel investigating the Trump campaign. Mueller created a securities fraud section and brought in an aggressive prosecutor from New York to lead it. But after he stepped down to take over the FBI in 2001, a series of embarrassing missteps in cases combined with less aggressive management led to the slow decline in prosecutions.
The Information spoke with more than two dozen lawyers familiar with the office, including 18 who have worked there. Many describe a 9-to-5 office culture, lacking the rigor and energy needed to pursue complex cases defended by top-notch defense lawyers. Prosecutors in the San Francisco office “will do anything to avoid litigation,” says an attorney who worked there for years. “It’s a fear of defeat and a fear of the effort involved.” Kevin Ryan, who was U.S. attorney from 2002 to 2007, attributed the declines in numbers during his tenure to priorities of the Bush administration’s Justice Department. “What people don’t understand is that it depends on the priorities of main Justice,” Ryan said. He added that the Bay Area’s high cost of living discourages FBI agents from making a government career there, resulting in a younger and less experienced team.