January 22, 2010
Office of The Attorney General
– Paula T. Dow, Acting Attorney General
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791
Acting Attorney General Dow Swears in Phillip Kwon as First Assistant Attorney General
TRENTON – Acting Attorney General Paula T. Dow swore in Phillip Kwon as First Assistant Attorney General on Wednesday at the Hughes Justice Complex.
Kwon was a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie named Kwon to the position of First Assistant on Dec. 15, when he announced the appointment of Dow as the new Attorney General.
“During his 10 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Phil Kwon rose by his acumen and skills to be a deputy chief in the Criminal Division,” said Acting Attorney General Dow. “He tried high-profile corruption cases for the office and supervised gang and white-collar crime prosecutions. His talent and experience make him an ideal selection for First Assistant.”
“I am honored by the confidence placed in me by Governor Christie and General Dow,” said Kwon. “I look forward to meeting the challenges of this new position and working to advance the policies and priorities of the governor and attorney general.”
Kwon joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in September 1999 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division, focusing on crimes involving drugs, gangs, counterfeiting, white-collar fraud, and immigration fraud.
Kwon then became an AUSA in the Special Prosecutions Division, where he worked on corruption cases and trials, including those involving former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, former Hudson County Freeholders Nidia Davila-Colon and William C. Braker, former East Orange Councilman Zachary V. Turner, and others. He also secured convictions of those involved in the sale of fraudulent birth certificates from the Hudson County Registrar’s Office. Mr. Kwon was also a prosecutor on the trial team that convicted former Newark Mayor and State Senator Sharpe James and Tamika Riley in their federal corruption case.
In 2005, Kwon was named Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit, where he supervised the office’s gang prosecutors. In 2006, Kwon was named a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, directly overseeing the Commercial Crimes Unit, the Terrorism Unit, and the Violent Crimes Unit.
Kwon received his undergraduate degree in 1989 from Georgetown University, and his law degree in 1994 from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark. From 1994 to 1997, Kwon was an associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in Newark. From 1997 to 1999, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Harold A. Ackerman, U.S. District Court Judge in Newark.
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