U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan, the first woman to serve as Vermont’s top federal prosecutor, is resigning.
Nolan was asked, along with most U.S. attorneys across the country appointed by former President Donald Trump, to submit her resignation by Feb. 28. The request came during a conference call Tuesday at noon with acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson, on behalf of President Joe Biden.
“Per this request,” Nolan said in a statement to VTDigger, “I will be resigning on or before that date.”
“(I)t is important that the president have the U.S. attorneys of his choosing across the country and here in Vermont,” Nolan said. “It has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime to serve in the role of U.S. attorney for Vermont, to serve the state I love, the office I love, and the mission I love — seeking justice.”
Trump appointed Nolan to the post in late 2017 after she was recommended by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
A Vermont native, Nolan had previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Vermont. Before joining the department in 2010, she had been a deputy district attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
The U.S. attorney job is considered a prime patronage post. It often goes to those with political connections to the president’s party. The president makes the appointment, typically in consultation with home-state senators, and the U.S Senate must vote to confirm.
The names of possible contenders for Nolan’s successor have been circulating in the legal community since Biden won the presidential election last November. Among the possible contenders are:
- Heather Ross, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Vermont. Ross is currently a partner at Sheehey, Furlong and Behm in Burlington.
- Timothy Doherty, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Vermont. He is now in private practice at Downs Rachlin Martin in Burlington.
- Brooks McArthur, who was a deputy state’s attorney in Chittenden and Washington counties. He is currently in private practice at Jarvis McArthur & Williams in Burlington.
- Bridget Asay, a former solicitor general in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. She is now in private practice in Montpelier as a partner in the firm Stris & Maher.
During Nolan’s tenure, her office prosecuted the first human trafficking case to go before a jury in Vermont and lead to convictions. The office played a prominent role in the investigation and prosecution of several large and complex fraud cases, targeting pharmaceutical companies and government contractors.
In May 2019, a federal grand jury leveled criminal charges in one of the highest-profile cases Nolan’s office has prosecuted — tied to the largest fraud scandal in the state’s history at Jay Peak Resort and in other communities in northern Vermont.
In that case, Bill Stenger, Jay Peak’s CEO and president, and resort owner Ariel Quiros took in more than $400 million from over 800 immigrant investors to develop Jay Peak, Burke Mountain, a biomedical center in Newport that never materialized, and several other Northeast Kingdom projects. The federal EB-5 program promised green cards to immigrants who invested at least $500,000 in job-creation projects.
However, many of the investors have sued because their money was allegedly diverted in what federal regulators termed a “Ponzi-like” scheme by the developers.
Stenger and Quiros and two of their associates were indicted on charges of fraud, money laundering and making false statements to the government connected to one of the last projects, known as AnC Bio Vermont. That proposed biomedical research facility in Newport never got off the ground, despite the developers raising more than $80 million.
Nolan’s office brought the criminal charges three years after her predecessor, Eric Miller, announced in April 2016 that a federal investigation was underway.
Stenger is contesting the charges and is scheduled to stand trial in October. Quiros has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. As a result of a plea deal, he faces up to eight years in prison, though his attorney can ask the judge for a lesser term.
Leahy, who has had close ties to Stenger through the years and had been a big backer of the EB-5 projects he headed, is expected to play a leading role in the appointment of the next U.S. attorney for Vermont, since he’s the state’s senior senator.
In a twist, McArthur, one of the attorneys considered up for the U.S. attorney position, currently represents Stenger in the criminal case.
