**Historic Turnover Hits Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney’s Office**
CHICAGO (WLS) — After at least eight top prosecutors recently left their positions in the Northern District of Illinois, ABC7’s I-Team has now learned that at least two more senior prosecutors are departing.
“I think this is a historic level of turnover within this narrow span of time. We haven’t seen the likes of this before,” said ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.
Soffer, a former federal prosecutor in the Chicago office for six years, described the ongoing departures as unprecedented.
“A loss of that much talent at that senior level is really significant for this office or any U.S. Attorney’s Office because, like any office or business, it needs people with experience, who are seasoned, who have been in leadership, who know their way around, not only a courtroom but how to manage a team of people,” Soffer explained.
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**Leadership Exodus in Criminal Division**
Prosecutors in the Northern District are assigned to one of eight sections within the criminal division, each led by a section chief. Since Andrew Boutros assumed office as U.S. Attorney in April 2024, seven section chiefs have left and one has been reassigned. This includes a prosecutor who resigned after serving as chief of the criminal division, along with a top national security prosecutor.
“Certainly, someone who’s looking to take that job is going to have to ask, ‘Why is everybody leaving?’” Soffer said.
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**A National Trend, But More Acute Locally**
The wave of departures is not unique to the Northern District of Illinois. Nationwide, U.S. Attorney’s Offices have lost 14% of their workforce, dropping from 11,817 prosecutors in December 2024 to 10,145 in December 2025, according to government data reviewed by ABC7’s Data Team.
However, the percentage drop is even steeper in the Northern District. A year ago, officials reported having 144 prosecutors. As of last Friday, the office counted just 121 prosecutors — a 16% decline under Boutros’s leadership.
“What is a local problem is a national problem. Head count is really important when you have an enormous load of cases that you’re handling, and that is the fact at these U.S. Attorney’s Offices,” said Soffer.
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**Impact of Changing Priorities**
Some former Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs) view the turnover as a reflection of shifting priorities under the Trump administration, which emphasized prosecuting immigration-related cases over white-collar crime and corruption.
“The problem is if those priorities are not what applicants want and not what they’re looking for in a U.S. attorney or assistant U.S. attorney position, then the department’s going to be hard pressed not to lose people and to attract people,” Soffer told the I-Team.
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**Recent Developments and Hiring Efforts**
Just before this story aired, the U.S. Attorney’s Office informed ABC7 that the number of prosecutors has increased to 125 since last Friday.
The I-Team has reached out repeatedly to Andrew Boutros for an interview since he became U.S. Attorney in April 2024, but he has declined. Instead, Boutros provided the following statement:
> “We thank our former Section Chiefs for their public service and wish them well in their future endeavors. We fully anticipated there would be leadership departures with the incoming Administration. All but one of the Section Chiefs who departed in the past year either took the government-wide early retirement offer or chose to leave the Office after the government-wide shutdown and after the launch of Operation Midway Blitz, a U.S. immigration operation that was the largest-ever enforcement surge in the Northern District of Illinois.
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> We are fortunate to have experienced AUSAs who have stepped up to serve in leadership roles as Section Chiefs. Nearly all the new Chiefs appointed within the last year have extensive experience, including as federal and/or state prosecutors.
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> In addition, we are energized by the fact that we are hiring dozens of new Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Criminal and Civil Divisions, ten of whom started in the last several weeks with many more to be onboard in the near future. Many of our new hires come with significant experience, including substantial prosecutorial experience from across the country and will be able to hit the ground running.
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> It’s exciting to see the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office be a magnet for such impressive talent.”
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As the Northern District of Illinois faces historic turnover in its ranks, the office’s future will depend on its ability to attract and retain experienced prosecutors amidst shifting priorities and national challenges. ABC7 will continue to follow this developing story.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/northern-district-illinois-us-attorneys-office-leadership-exodus-continues-andrew-boutros-donald-trump-administration/18575999/