United States Attorney Henry Leventis Announces Departure

NASHVILLE - Henry C. Leventis, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, announced today that he has submitted his resignation to President Biden effective October 4, 2024.

"I am eternally grateful to President Biden, Attorney General Garland, and Senators Blackburn and Hagerty for the opportunity to lead the United States Attorney's Office and to work alongside so many talented and committed public servants," said U.S. Attorney Leventis. "This office and our law enforcement partners go above and beyond every day to keep our communities safe, uphold the rule of law, and protect the civil rights of our most vulnerable citizens. I feel blessed to have been a part of those efforts."

As United States Attorney for the past two years, Leventis led an office of 85 federal prosecutors and support personnel. The district covers 32 counties and is home to over 2.6 million people. The office represents the United States in virtually every matter, criminal or civil, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. United States Attorney Leventis focused the office's efforts on public safety, protecting civil rights, and fighting fraud, waste, and abuse in the health care industry.

Public Safety

From the outset of his tenure, United States Attorney Leventis and his team worked to bolster public safety in middle Tennessee. They revamped the Project Safe Neighborhoods program in Davidson County, a Justice Department initiative that seeks to identify the most pressing violent crime problems and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. They strengthened relationships with law enforcement, including the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, to address threats of violence against schools and other public gatherings. They also partnered with national experts to facilitate training in critical areas, including a statewide human trafficking training for law enforcement that was hosted in partnership with the Tennessee Attorney General's Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The office's notable recent public safety victories include the prosecution of international gangs, local drug trafficking organizations, a Kansas man who threatened to bomb a Nashville Pride event, a Columbia man who engaged in a two-hour shootout with police, four men involved in a double homicide murder-for-hire conspiracy, the seizure of hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, and a $59 million settlement with the e-commerce company eBay related to the sale of thousands of industrial-grade pill press machines and counterfeit pill stamps.

Civil Rights

Under United States Attorney Leventis' leadership, his office took a comprehensive approach to protecting the civil rights of Tennesseans through aggressive enforcement efforts, community outreach, and strong partnership with the Department's Civil Rights Division. In 2023, the office intervened in a private lawsuit against Tennessee to challenge its newly enacted gender affirming care ban as unconstitutional. That case, United States v. Skrmetti, et. al., will be argued before the United States Supreme Court later this year.

Leventis' office also successfully prosecuted numerous public officials, including state and local corrections officers, sheriff's deputies, and a former Cumberland County Commissioner, for criminal civil rights violations. They reached settlements under the Americans with Disabilities Act against hospital systems, national restaurant chains, gyms, landlords, and the Metro Nashville government. And last month, U.S. Attorney Leventis announced a federal civil rights investigation under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act into Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, the state's largest prison.

Health Care

As the chief federal law enforcement official in the nation's health care capital, United States Attorney Leventis prioritized fighting fraud, waste, and abuse in federal health care programs through a combination of robust enforcement efforts and engagement with industry stakeholders. During his tenure, the office criminally prosecuted health care executives, company owners, physicians, pharmacists, and marketers. It also reached civil health care fraud settlements against hospital systems, medical colleges, nursing homes, hospice care companies, Medicare Advantage organizations, laboratories, medical marketing companies, and individual providers.

During the same period, United States Attorney Leventis increased his office's outreach to health care industry stakeholders, both in Nashville and around the country. These efforts sought to highlight the Department's enforcement work and to enlist health care companies as partners in identifying and addressing fraud and abuse.

Mr. Leventis will return to private practice upon his departure.

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