Loretta Lynch names former prosecutor as top assistant

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, the chief federal prosecutor for Long Island and Brooklyn who has been nominated to succeed Eric Holder as attorney general, on Wednesday named an ex-prosecutor from the office as her top assistant.

New chief assistant Kelly T. Currie prosecuted racketeering, terrorism, securities and violent crime cases from 1999 to 2010, including a top Morgan Stanley executive charged in a kickback scheme, a violent drug crew operating out of a flower shop, and a recruiter and money man for a Sikh terror group.

Since 2010, Currie has been working as a white-collar defense lawyer at a large Manhattan law firm, Crowell & Moring. The new appointment could put him in position to become acting U.S. attorney if Lynch is confirmed by the Senate.