Dear President Hamilton,

I am an alumnus of New York University. As the youngest one to graduate at age 18, I was the torchbearer at the 1997 commencement ceremony. I write this message to protest the hiring of former U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara to the NYU School of Law.

I was informed that during the prosecution of Mitch Cohen of Buy-a-Home for Housing and Urban Development mortgage fraud, Cohen’s business partner, attorney Gregg Star, was given immunity by Bharara and his office.

Star went on to defraud my family and myself. My family and I owned a 16-unit apartment building at 72-74 Eldert Street, Brooklyn, NY, which we painstakingly renovated from a dilapidated
state. That building was stolen from us — through the criminal actions of Gregg Star. Not only did Star illegally sign away our building to a shell company, but he forged my father’s signature on an
affidavit in an effort to mask the theft. We discovered that we were unable to report Star to the Kings County District Attorney. We could not even get the District Attorney to honor freedom of information requests to know why we were not allowed to file a criminal complaint with them. Apparently the immunity he enjoyed from Bharara’s office extended to the state level as well.

Bharara had a duty to protect New Yorkers from criminals, which he failed miserably. Bharara’s act of mercy to the fraudster Star created a monster which robbed my family of millions of dollars and violated the due process and 14th amendment constitutional rights of my family and myself. Bharara was in gross dereliction of his duty to the law and his failure to enforce the law set a criminal monster against us. As an NYU alumnus, Bharara’s hiring sickens me.

Sincerely,
Cie Sharp

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them. Email Cie Sharp at [email protected]. A version of this appeared in the Monday, Sept. 25 print edition.