R. Alexander Acosta

R. Alexander Acosta is an American lawyer and current dean of the Florida International University College of Law^[1] in Miami, Florida.

Background

Acosta is a native of Miami, Florida. He attended the Gulliver Schools in Miami. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard College and his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Following law school, Acosta served as a law clerk to Samuel Alito, then a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, from 1994 to 1995. Acosta then worked at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where he specialized in employment and labor issues. While in Washington, Acosta taught classes on employment law, disability-based discrimination law, and civil rights law at the George Mason University School of Law.

From 1998-2000 Acosta was a senior fellow at the socially conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center.

On December 31, 2013 Acosta became the new chairman of U.S. Century Bank.^[2]

Executive Branch Service

Acosta has served in three presidentially-appointed, senate-confirmed positions. He was a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. Following the NLRB, he was Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice on August 22, 2003; becoming the first Hispanic to hold the rank of Assistant Attorney General. He also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division. More recently, Acosta served as the U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Florida, and was the longest serving U.S. Attorney in the District since the 1970s.

U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Florida

While Acosta served as U.S. Attorney, the Southern District prosecuted a number of high-profile defendants, including Jack Abramoff for fraud, José Padilla for terrorism, and Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. for torture, (the first torture case of its kind in the U.S.).

The District also targeted white collar crime, prosecuting several bank-related cases, including one against Swiss bank UBS. The case resulted in UBS paying $780 million in fines, and for the first time in history, the bank provided the United States with the names of individuals who were using secret Swiss bank accounts to avoid U.S. taxes.

Other notable cases during his tenure include the corruption prosecution of Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti, Palm Beach County Commissioner Warren Newell, and Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne; the conviction of Cali Cartel founders Miguel and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, for the importation of 200,000 kilos of cocaine, which resulted in a $2.1 billion forfeiture; and the white-collar crime prosecutions of executives connected to Hamilton Bank.

Acosta also emphasized health-care fraud prosecutions. Under Acosta’s leadership, the District also focused on health care fraud and because the top district in the nation in health care fraud prosecution, charged more than 700 individuals responsible for more than $2 billion in fraud.

Dean of the Florida International University College of Law

On July 1, 2009, Acosta became the second dean of Florida International University College of Law. During Acosta’s tenure FIU Law has risen to #100 in the U.S. News and World Report Rankings, improved its student to faculty ratio from 16.2 to 1, to 12.8 to 1, and reduced its class size by 40%.

Awards and Recognition

Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine. He was named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. He serves on the Florida Innocence Commission, on the Florida Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism, on the Commission for Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, and on the American Bar Association’s Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Education Pipeline.

Acosta received the Excellence in Government Service Award in 2003 from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Hugh A. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award from the DC Hispanic Bar Association. He was also named a 2010 Miracle Maker by Big Brothers / Big Sisters of South Florida.

References

External links

• Official biography from the Florida International University College of Law
• Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta