Remarks at 32nd Annual Stimson Medal Presentation – By Muhammad U. Faridi, President

Introduction

I want to begin by expressing our gratitude to Mark Hellerer, the outgoing chair of the Stimson Medal Committee for his decades long service to the association. And I also want to thank the firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Henry Stimson’s legacy firm, for maintaining this joyful annual celebration of achievement in the public interest.

I was particularly looking forward the award presentation tonight because I wanted to personally meet the stars of the Eastern and Southern Districts, and see the names that will likely become as familiar as those of many of the previous recipients of this medal. That list includes luminaries of the bar and our profession.

When the New York City Bar Association launched its Stimson Medal presentation over 30 years ago, it was decided that the medal would honor and celebrate the following attributes in Assistant U.S. Attorneys: Integrity, Fairness, Courage and Public Service.

Each of the honorees exemplifies each of the four attributes. They are honest, sincere, impartial, brave, and have a zeal for the public interest. The one attribute that is especially worth highlighting tonight—given the times we live in—is courage: the honorees’ dedication to doing the right thing regardless of the political consequences and threats of violence and intimidation. The honorees are an embodiment of the rule of law. They are the people who make the wheels of justice turn, people who operate in good faith and do the right thing, adhering to the principles of fairness and equality.

I am especially pleased to see that the recipients of the medal are joined tonight by their family members, friends, and colleagues. It is essential to take a moment to acknowledge the support that you all have provided to our honorees. There is no doubt in my mind that your encouragements during challenging times and your steadfast presence have made the successes of our honorees possible. And we also must acknowledge those who couldn’t be with us today. Though they may not be physically present, their influence remains woven into the fabric of our award recipients’ good work.

And with that, I am honored and delighted to present the Henry L. Stimson Medals. We have two recipients from the Eastern District, and two from the Southern District. I don’t think I will ever be forgiven if we present the medal to the Eastern District AUSAs first, or vice versa, so we’ll present the medals in an alphabetical order.

Marcia S. Cohen (SDNY)

The first recipient of the medal is Marcia Cohen from the Southern District. Marcia is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School. Following law school, she clerked for the Judge Dearie in the Eastern District who encouraged her to consider working as a federal prosecutor. After a short stint in private practice, she joined the Southern District’s criminal division in 1998.

In her early years, Marcia prosecuted cases involving violence and drug trafficking. And in 2004, she left Manhattan for the White Plains Division where she initially investigated and prosecuted a variety of complex fraud matters.

Over the past 20 years, Marcia has dedicated herself to prosecuting individuals who sexually exploit children. She advocates strongly in court while also being empathetic with victims and their families under the most trying of circumstances. Marcia has investigated and prosecuted hundreds of cases involving the sexual exploitation of children and has assisted, trained, guided, and mentored junior prosecutors in the investigations and prosecutions of countless more.

Just a small sampling of her cases includes:

• United States v. Leland Robinson, where the defendant targeted a 14-year-old boy he met on Snapchat. Marcia helped the victim find the courage to testify – even after it became clear that defendant was proceeding pro se at trial and would be conducting the cross-examination of the victim himself. After a jury trial in July 2023 in which the victim provided powerful testimony, defendant was convicted and sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment.
• In United States v. Richard Dinizo, Marcia prosecuted a defendant who had abused at least seven girls between the ages of four and ten, videotaped the abuse, and then distributed the videos to other child abusers via the Internet. Following the defendant’s guilty plea, he was sentenced to 600 months’ imprisonment.
• In United States v. John Mueser, Marcia prosecuted a teacher in an elite New York City school for abusing a student he was tutoring outside the school. Marcia’s investigation revealed that the defendant had abused other children decades before. Although there were no federal criminal charges available for the earlier instances of abuse, Marcia fashioned a plea in which the defendant admitted both the prior and recent crimes for which he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.

A 26-year veteran of the SDNY, Marcia is a tireless investigator, exceptional prosecutor, and a generous mentor, and colleague. She exemplifies the qualities of integrity, fairness, and dedicated public service and, as such, she is a truly deserving recipient of the prestigious Stimson Medal. Please join me in congratulating Marcia in this well-deserved honor.

Kathleen Mahoney (EDNY)

Our next recipient is Kathleen Mahoney from the Eastern District. Kathleen is a graduate of Fordham College and St. John’s University School of Law. After law school, she was in private practice for three years, followed by nine years with the Department of Health and Human Services, and three years at the Social Security Administration. Kathleen joined the Eastern District in 1998. Since then, she has handled a wide range of challenging matters in affirmative and defensive practice areas with outstanding results.

Some examples:

• United States v. VNAB, where Kathleen not only successfully defended a Medicare payment claim, but also filed counterclaims under the False Claims Act and ended up recovering $6 million for the U.S. government from the plaintiffs. For that, she was honored with a Director’s Award for Superior Performance.
• In a matter involving a Superfund site in Bethpage that was formerly a Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility, Kathleen mastered a decades-long evidentiary record and complex environmental laws and regulations to secure a $35 million cleanup settlement from Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Navy.
• In Rodriguez v. Raimondo, a case involving national security and environmental law, Kathleen successfully defended a decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to override New York State’s objection to dredging required to support submarine construction in a Connecticut shipyard. After mastering a 33,000-page administrative record, Kathleen filed a Summary Judgment motion that was so compelling that it led New York State to drop its suit.

Perhaps no area better exemplifies Kathleen’s versatility and record of success than appeals. She has won all 29 appeals she has handled, 18 of which she argued before the Second Circuit.

She has managed the Eastern District’s Social Security docket, the Office’s largest defensive practice with as many 500 new cases per year, supervised the office’s handling of cases involving the Medicare program, and has become a subject-matter expert in large bankruptcy cases.

Kathleen has also held numerous key supervisory positions in the Eastern District and has overseen the Civil Division’s extensive training program. And she has mentored scores of AUSAs handling complex issues and cases, and significantly enhanced the quality and sophistication of the EDNY’s civil practice.

Kathleen is a dedicated public servant and exceptional colleague who has consistently made meaningful contributions throughout her legal career, including during more than 26 years as an AUSA. Kathleen’s exemplary career and commitment to public service make her a worthy recipient of the prestigious Henry L. Stimson Medal. Please join me in congratulating Kathleen.

Christine Schessler Poscablo (SDNY)

Our next recipient of the medal is Christine Schessler Poscablo from the Southern District. Christine is a graduate of Georgetown University and Fordham Law School. Following law school, Christine clerked for Judge John Bissell in the federal district court in New Jersey. She joined the Southern District in 2011 after a few years in private practice.

Since joining, Christine has handled a heavy docket with a wide range of defensive and affirmative cases. She has excelled at defending the Government’s interests in complex and sensitive litigation and pursuing entities and individuals who have defrauded the Government, harmed the environment, or violated civil rights laws.

Some examples of her work:

• Christine brought a case resulting in a $49 million settlement with Eastman Kodak Company to clean up the Eastman Business Park and the Genesee River, plus an additional $2.75 million for environmental cleanup in New Jersey.
• A $33 million settlement from Magnesium Corporation of America and Renco Metals for the clean-up of hazardous substances at the U.S. Magnesium Superfund Site in Utah.
• In 2022, she led a team that filed a lawsuit alleging that Meta Platforms violated the Fair Housing Act by offering targeting options for housing advertisements that discriminated against Facebook users based on their race, color, religion, and other prohibited characteristics. In a settlement of the case, Meta agreed to stop using an ad delivery tool that relied on a discriminatory algorithm and agreed to develop a new system to address disparities in the delivery of housing ads.

Additionally, the Southern District’s civil rights practice includes a large volume of complaints concerning violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Christine has both handled and supervised the investigation and resolution of numerous complaints. That work includes a successful lawsuit against the architect and builders of a condominium in Mount Kisco that was billed as a “55 and Older Adult Community” and advertised as “ADA compliant,” but was designed and constructed with numerous inaccessible features making it impossible for individuals with disabilities to maneuver in their homes.

Earlier this year, Christine was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of the Southern District’s Civil Division where she supervises and trains 15 AUSAs handling the Office’s large and varied defensive docket.

Throughout her tenure, Christine has been the consummate AUSA—committed to doing the right thing for the right reasons and expertly representing the interests of the United States. Through her work, she has established valuable legal precedent, protected the environment and the civil rights of individuals, established important working relationships with other federal, state, and city agencies, and mentored dozens of AUSAs. For all of these reasons, Christine is a worthy recipient of the Henry L. Stimson Medal. Please join me in congratulating her.

Douglas Pravda (EDNY)

Our last recipient of the Stimson medal is Douglas Pravda from the Eastern District. Douglas is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law Review. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Amalya Kearse of the Second Circuit. He joined the Eastern District in 2011 after a few years in private practice.

At the Eastern District, Douglas has served in the General Crimes, International Narcotics and Money Laundering, and National Security and Cybercrime Sections. Douglas has also held a number of significant supervisory roles in the Office. He has served as Chief of the National Security Section since August 2020, and previously served as Deputy Chief of that section, and as Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section. Under his leadership, the National Security Section has expanded well beyond its traditional terrorism focus and brought significant prosecutions in areas of critical importance to U.S. national security, including cases involving foreign malign influence, the illicit trafficking of sensitive technologies, cyber exploitation by nation-states, and the prosecution of multinational corporations that enable terrorist organizations.

Some examples of cases brought under Douglas’s leadership:

• The prosecution of French company Lafarge for material support to terrorists based on the company’s payments to ISIS for permission to operate a cement plant in Syria. Lafarge entered the first-ever corporate guilty plea for material support to terrorists and agreed to pay $778 million as part of the resolution;
• The prosecution of Chinese government agents who operated a clandestine police station in lower Manhattan on behalf of the Peoples Republic of China’s Ministry of Public Security;
• Five cases charging more than 20 defendants with various sanctions and export violations for their efforts to secure sensitive U.S. technologies for Russia’s use on the battlefield in Ukraine, including technologies used in hypersonic and nuclear weapons, precision-guided missiles, smart munitions, fighter aircraft, radar and satellites;

Over the past ten years, Douglas has personally prosecuted more than 20 members and supporters of al Qaeda and ISIS and has secured terrorism convictions in several terrorism trials. He has also personally prosecuted multiple other defendants for terrorism offenses, including two men who traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan to join al Qaeda and fight against U.S. forces in Afghanistan; three men who tried to attack law enforcement officers on behalf of ISIS, including one defendant who stabbed an FBI agent after law enforcement officers interrupted their plot to conduct a terrorist attack in New York City; and two women who tried to build an explosive device for use in a terrorist attack in New York City.

Doug has established himself as an inspiring leader, a thorough investigator, an exceptional advocate, and a dedicated mentor. Doug’s achievements and unwavering commitment to public service represent the finest traditions of the Justice Department and make him a deserving recipient of the Stimson Medal. Please join me in congratulating Doug.