By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office said on Monday Kelly Currie will temporarily replace Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in as attorney general.
Currie, who returned to the office in November to become Lynch's second-in-command, will be the acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of New York. Lynch was officially sworn in Monday as attorney general, replacing Eric Holder.
The 170-lawyer U.S. Attorney's office oversees cases in the New York boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, as well as in Long Island.
The office has recently pursued defendants ranging from former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm, who pleaded guilty in December to a tax charge, to Abid Naseer, a Pakistani man convicted in March of conspiring with al Qaeda to bomb U.S. and European targets.
The office is also pursuing a civil rights investigation into the July 2014 death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man whose death after a chokehold by a white police officer sparked outrage and protests.
Prior to joining the office in November, Currie had been a partner at the law firm Crowell & Moring for four years.
He previously served in the office from 1999 to 2010, including as deputy chief of its criminal division and chief of its violent crimes and terrorism section.