U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan Announces Upcoming Resignation

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan has announced his resignation, effective January 19, 2025, as the chief law enforcement officer for the Northern District of Georgia. After he was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, U.S. Attorney Buchanan was sworn in as the District’s 26th Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed United States Attorney on May 2, 2022.

During his tenure, U.S. Attorney Buchanan led an office of approximately 250 prosecutors, civil litigators, and administrative and support personnel in its mission to enforce federal civil and criminal laws, advocate for crime victims, and represent the United States’ interests in federal court. In his role, he oversaw prosecutions involving violent crimes, firearm offenses, drug trafficking organizations, child exploitation, cybercrimes, health care fraud, public corruption, organized crime rings and gang activities, hate crimes, and civil rights violations, while also achieving significant judgments and penalties in multiple civil matters.

Beyond the Northern District, U.S. Attorney Buchanan contributed to the Department of Justice’s national legal policy as a member of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Advisory Committee (the “AGAC”), a select group of United States Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on policy matters. He served as Vice-Chair of the AGAC’s Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee, leader of the Malign Foreign Influence Working Group, and a member of the Office of Management and Budget Subcommittee. In addition to Department of Justice leadership, U.S. Attorney Buchanan was a member of the interagency Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee.

In a message to the members of his office, U.S. Attorney Buchanan said:

“Earlier today, I tendered my resignation as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia to President Biden and Attorney General Garland. It is nearly impossible for me to reduce to writing my admiration and gratitude for you. You embody the high ideals of the Department of Justice, and you live out our mission daily. The Northern District, the State of Georgia, and the United States are safer because of your efforts. During my tenure as United States Attorney, the work of this office has reached six continents. At the same time, the office has remained a steadfast and engaged leader in communities from southwest Atlanta to the Appalachian foothills. That global legal work and local community impact are hallmarks of this office. Daily, we have worked collaboratively and forged lasting partnerships with law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders, leading to innovative, thoughtful, and effective approaches to advancing safety, upholding the rule of law, and protecting civil rights for nearly eight million people in the Northern District. The talent, excellence, and integrity of this office are unparalleled. It has been the privilege of my life to serve with you as colleagues, and I am forever grateful and honored to call you my friends.”

Under Mr. Buchanan’s leadership, the Northern District of Georgia achieved noteworthy successes outlined below in criminal and civil cases. U.S. Attorney Buchanan created a new dedicated section, the Public Integrity & Civil Rights Section, to formalize and expand the office’s civil and criminal civil rights work. And as described further below, Mr. Buchanan initiated and spearheaded many innovative collaborations with law enforcement and community stakeholders.

Notable Violent Crime and National Security Achievements

• A five-member minor sex trafficking group was prosecuted and sentenced, following a report that a minor victim had gone missing in Miami, Florida. The victim’s parents realized she failed to board a flight to Honduras. The minor was transported by two defendants to Georgia and forced to commit commercial sex acts and participate in “sex parties” hosted by other members of the group. The court imposed sentences ranging from seven to 30 years in prison.
• A jury convicted Jalal Hajavi for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, smuggling goods from the U.S., unlawfully exporting and reexporting goods from the U.S. to Iran without a license, and unlawfully engaging in transactions and dealings based on his participation in a scheme to unlawfully export heavy equipment from the U.S. to Iran by routing the shipments through the United Arab Emirates. He was convicted by a jury, and subsequently sentenced to two years in prison.
• Kenny Wells made headlines when he recklessly discharged a firearm at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the busy weekend before Thanksgiving in 2021.  His unlawful actions created enormous panic throughout the airport and forced a lockdown of the facility and surrounding area for hours after he discharged a firearm detected inside a bag he had carried into an airport security screening area. Wells was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of multiple felony offenses.
• A jury convicted Mezemr Abebe Belayneh for fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by concealing his involvement in the “Red Terror,” a campaign of oppression and mass killings committed in Ethiopia that began in 1976.  The Red Terror was a campaign of brutal violence in which Ethiopia’s ruling military council and its supporters detained, interrogated, tortured, and executed thousands of perceived opponents, many of whom were teenagers, based on their political opinions.  Belayneh was convicted of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by lying about his role in the Red Terror persecutions and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Fraud Convictions

• Operation Five Fingers, a Priority Transnational Organized Crime case, resulted in the convictions of 40 defendants. Thirty-one of the defendants were convicted of conspiring to launder the proceeds of romance fraud schemes, bank account takeover schemes, and business email compromise schemes, which caused more than $30 million in losses to hundreds of individuals, banks, and other companies. Nine of the defendants committed bank fraud and aggravated identity theft offenses when they posed as bank customers and fraudulently withdrew funds directly from victims’ bank accounts. Two of the defendants were bank employees who facilitated laundering of fraud proceeds.

Accomplishments in Civil Cases

• A federal jury found that Charles Adams M.D. and his medical practice violated the False Claims Act (FCA). The jury concluded that the defendants violated the FCA by submitting false claims to Medicare for reimbursements of chelation therapy, which involves the use of drugs to remove heavy metals from the body. The jury found that Medicare reimbursed the defendants more than $1.1 million for these unnecessary treatments. In a post-trial ruling, the federal district judge added penalties to the jury’s verdict, bringing defendants’ total liability to more than $27 million.
• UBS AG and several of its U.S.-based affiliates (together, “UBS”) agreed to pay $1.435 billion in penalties to settle a civil action alleging misconduct related to UBS’ underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities in 2006 and 2007.

Narcotics Convictions

• Gilberto Lopez-Giraldo, Raul Lopez-Giraldo, Guillermo Escobar, and Alexander Duque-Casanova were convicted for engaging in a more than $1.4 million drug money laundering conspiracy involving major cities from across the United States, including Atlanta, Chicago, and New York to Cali, Colombia. The defendants received sentences of incarceration ranging from three to six years.

Money Laundering & Asset Recovery

• The District’s Money Laundering & Asset Recovery Section secured more than $90 million in collections for victims of crimes and to satisfy debts owed to the United States; shared in the collection of an additional $1 billion related to financial wrongdoing; and forfeited over $55 million in property seized from criminal defendants and in civil forfeiture matters.

Public Integrity and Civil Rights Work

• Former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was convicted of intentionally violating the civil rights of six pre-trial detainees by ordering them strapped into restraint chairs at the Clayton County Jail for hours without legal justification. Hill was sentenced to one year, six months in prison, which he later appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions with an opinion that opened with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s declaration: “No man is above the law and no man is below it.”​
• A multi-year investigation of corruption throughout the upper echelon of the City of Atlanta’s government led to the prosecutions of 11 high-ranking city officials and contractors resulting in two convictions at trial and nine by guilty pleas. The charged conduct included bribery, theft, tax fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering offenses, but also machine gun possession, obstruction of justice, and the delivery of envelopes of cash to one of the defendants in a men’s room at a local restaurant. This investigation ultimately included convictions of the City’s Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, Watershed Commissioner, Director of Human Services, and Director of Contract Compliance, as well as the former Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff and multiple primary contractors.
• A settlement agreement was reached with Smarter Kids Child Care (“Smarter Kids”) in Smyrna, Georgia, to resolve allegations that Smarter Kids violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by denying a child an opportunity to participate in its daycare program on the basis of his autism.  Under the agreement, Smarter Kids agreed to adopt a non-discrimination policy to ensure ADA compliance and to provide mandatory training for all employees who consider requests for reasonable accommodations or make enrollment decisions. Additionally, Smarter Kids will pay $7,000 in compensation to the complainant and $1,000 to the United States as a civil penalty.
• A Civil Rights investigation into Fulton County, Georgia and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office uncovered multiple violations of the constitutional and statutory rights of persons incarcerated at the Fulton County Jail on a routine basis and failures to adequately protect incarcerated persons from substantial risk of serious harm.
• A multi-year investigation of the Georgia Department of Corrections concluded that the incarcerated persons’ constitutional rights are being violated by failing to protect them from widespread physical violence and harm, including exposing incarcerated persons to unreasonable risk of harm from sexual abuse.

Law Enforcement and Community Outreach

U.S. Attorney Buchanan’s tenure reflects a steadfast and robust commitment to building relationships and partnerships with law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders within the District.

Mr. Buchanan partnered with the Georgia Department of Public Health Northwest Health District to host a community gathering designed to increase awareness of and connect residents to local resources available to help prevent opioid use, overdoses, and deaths. This collaboration resulted from a data-driven District initiative to address concerns related to Bartow County’s opioid deaths and the county’s age-adjusted opioid death rate. Local public health officials who participated in the initiative also noted the alarming nationwide increases in illicit fentanyl exposures in children younger than six years old as cause for critical concern.

Mr. Buchanan served as a member of the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion and Education (“GRACE”) Commission which was created to combat human trafficking in the State of Georgia.

He partnered with the Department of Justice to host the inaugural Historically Black Colleges and Universities Regional Forum at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.

He led the training effort with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association to provide an intensive law enforcement training, “G.R.E.A.T.” (Gang Resistance Education and Training), for more than 40 police officers from school systems in the District.  These officers, specifically chosen by their respective agencies, serve at over 70 local schools that enroll more than 26,000 students.

Mr. Buchanan continued to partner with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as part of an annual Project Safe Neighborhoods Credible Messenger Youth Summer Violence Program, which provides intensive and positive youth and young adult mentorship, with a goal to reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and improve family and community engagement.

He hosted a safety briefing for houses of worship, gathering faith leaders and those involved with security at houses of worship, to provide training, education, and discussion in the areas of safety, security, security planning, hate crimes, and the growth and management of threats.

Mr. Buchanan led the creation of the Northern Georgia Fentanyl Prosecution Working Group, an innovative data-driven effort aimed at the counties in the Northern District that have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic. The effort included a coordinated multi-agency, parcel interdiction operation that resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs and firearms being shipped through the district.

He oversaw a safety briefing for school administrators and safety officials to provide education and resources for planning, assessment, and mitigation of safety threats.

And he also organized a housing summit that focused on health and safety in HUD-assisted housing with Housing and Urban Development leadership.

“I thank President Biden for nominating me, Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff for their recommendation and support, and Attorney General Garland for his leadership during my tenure,” said U.S. Attorney Buchanan.  “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the American people and the Northern District of Georgia.”

Pursuant to the Vacancies Reform Act, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. will succeed Mr. Buchanan as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia until a successor is nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate.