To better highlight its efforts to crack down on financial fraud, including illegal activities involving securities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has renamed one of its divisions.

Neil H. MacBride

U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride announced the name change of his office’s fraud unit in Alexandria, Va., to the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit.

“The new name reflects the Justice Department’s heightened priority to fight financial fraud – particularly corporate and securities fraud, mortgage fraud, Recovery Act and Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) frauds and financial discrimination,” said MacBride in a statement. “It also emphasizes our intention to aggressively pursue public corruption investigations and prosecutions.”

MacBride made two key staff changes to the newly renamed unit, including appointing Michael Dry as the district-wide corporate and securities fraud coordinator, responsible  for coordinating the office’s corporate fraud cases across the four divisions in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk, and Newport News.

Dry joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2004, having since brought numerous securities fraud, bank fraud and other cases to court. A faculty member of the ABA National Institute on Securities Fraud, Dry previously served as a law clerk to the federal District Court Judge Robert G. Doumar, who presided in the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk.

“Outside of national security, fighting financial fraud is the top priority for the Justice Department and this Office,” said MacBride. “Mike will continue to work closely with the SEC and other federal and state regulators and help us bring significant, complex financial fraud cases.”

MacBride also named Brian Samuels to serve as the Tidewater fraud coordinator, assisting Dry in coordinating financial crimes in the Norfolk and Newport News Divisions.

Samuels, a prosecutor in the Newport News division since 2007, has handled high-profile cases including the David Runyon murder-for-hire trial and a number of embezzlement and mortgage fraud cases, according to MacBride’s office.

“Brian has been a tremendous asset to our Newport News Division, and under his leadership I’m confident that we will quickly expand our ability to bring significant financial fraud cases in Tidewater,” said MacBride.