NY Times, WSJ On Same Page About Accusations of Overreach by US Attorney Bharara

It’s not often that the Wall Street Journal editorial board and the New York Times are on the same page, but it appears a lawsuit targeting potential overreach by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office has brought the two newspapers together.

Last week, a Wall Street Journal editorial said the lawsuit, filed by former hedge-fund manager David Ganek, may finally force Bharara “to answer for his abuses of prosecutorial power.”

Yesterday, the New York Times’ Peter J. Henning writes of the legal impediments to “guarding the guardians” to hold government prosecutors, such as Bharara, accountable. Henning laments the fact that “targets of an investigation have few tools to combat instances in which that authority may have been misused.”

Ganek’s lawsuit claims that Bharara deprived him of due process after Bharara accused him of insider trading in 2010. Ganek was forced to liquidate his fund. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, however, overturned his conviction, finding “no evidence” of fraud.