Bruce D. Brandler appointed acting U.S. Attorney for Pa. Middle District

HARRISBURG — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Monday that Bruce D. Brandler has been appointed Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Brnadler was appointed upon the resignation of former U.S. Attorney David J. Freed, which became effective at midnight Jan. 1.

Brandler’s appointment is for 300 days or until a presidential appointment is made, whichever occurs first.

Brandler previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District from Oct. 2, 2016, to Nov. 26, 2017. He was first appointed to the position by former Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, and then reappointed by Order of the District Court Judges on Jan. 30, 2017.

Brandler served as first assistant U.S. Attorney under Freed from Nov. 17, 2017 to Jan. 1.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Brandler began his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he served from 1981 until 1985. Upon leaving the District Attorney’s Office, he became the deputy chief and then chief investigative counsel of the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations, Taxation and Government Operations from 1985 to 1986.

Brandler was appointed as assistant U.S. Attorney from the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 1986 and was promoted to the position of senior litigation counsel in 1992. In 2014, he became the chief of the criminal division and served in that capacity until his appointed as U.S. Attorney in October 2016.

During his tenure as an assistant U.S. Attorney, Brandler specialized in complex white-collar prosecutions, including high profile public corruption cases. Some of the notable cases Brandler prosecuted included a tax evasion case against former Luzerne County Judge Arthur Dalessandro, a perjury case against former state Rep. Frank Sarafini, a bribery/extortion case against former Lackawanna County commissioners Robert Cordaro and Anthony Munchak, an illegal campaign contribution and fraud case against Renato Mariani, the former president of Empire Sanitary Landfill, a disadvantaged business enterprise fraud case against Joseph Nagle, the former president of Schuylkill Products, Inc., an accounting fraud case against Paul Polishan, the former chief financial officer for the Leslie Fay Companies, and an environmental crimes case against Chemical Waste Management, Inc., for illegal dumping activities at a Superfund site in Lackawanna County.

Brandler graduated from Stony Brook University in 1978 and received a B.A. in Political Science with honors, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He received his law degree in 1981 from the Boston University School of Law. He resides in Harrisburg.