A member of the team that prosecuted late financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for sex abuse has joined law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, marking the firm's second hire from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office since the U.S. election.
Alex Rossmiller rejoined Quinn Emanuel's New York office as an of counsel after a decade of serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the firm said.
Rossmiller helped press the government's case against Epstein, who died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Rossmiller also later prosecuted Maxwell, who was convicted on five charges for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein, her former boyfriend, to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A U.S. appeals court in November rejected Maxwell's request to revisit its decision upholding her conviction.
Quinn Emanuel co-managing partner Bill Burck praised Rossmiller's "ability to handle high-pressure matters" in a statement.
Rossmiller left the U.S. attorney's office in October, according to his LinkedIn profile. A spokesperson for office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Top law firms have moved quickly to hire lawyers leaving the government after Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lost the November presidential election to Republican Donald Trump.
Quinn Emanuel earlier this month said it hired Scott Hartman, who was chief of the securities and commodities fraud task force in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office. Nicholas Folly, who served as deputy chief of the office's criminal division, returned to Debevoise & Plimpton as a counsel in its San Francisco office.
Former Manhattan U.S. attorney Damian Williams will return to law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the firm said earlier this month. Williams said he would resign ahead of Trump taking office.
