Gurbir Grewal Biography

Gurbir Grewal is an American Attorney General of the State of New Jersey. Appointed by Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy, he was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate on January 16, 2018.

He is the first Sikh-American Attorney General in United States history. Grewal was formerly the county prosecutor of Bergen County, New Jersey, originally appointed in 2016; he was also the first Sikh American to be named a county prosecutor in the United States.

He has served as president of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and a member of the New Jersey Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association.

Governor Philip D. Murphy announced his intention to nominate Gurbir S. Grewal to serve as New Jersey’s 61st Attorney General on December 12, 2017. He was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate and assumed the office on January 16, 2018.

Since assuming office, Attorney General Grewal has focused his attention on protecting the interests of New Jersey residents by expanding affirmative litigation, strengthening police-community relations, reducing violent crime and fighting the opioid epidemic.

Gurbir Grewal Age

Gurbir Grewal was born on June 23, 1973, in Jersey City, New Jersey. He grew up in Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey. He was born and raised in New Jersey. He is 46 years old as of 2019.

Gurbir Grewal Education

Gurbir Grewal graduated from West Essex High School. He then received his B.A. degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He received his J.D. degree from William & Mary Law School and graduated in 1999.

Attorney General Grewal graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in foreign service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1995. He obtained his law degree from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1999.

Gurbir Grewal Wife

Gurbir Grewal is married to Amrit Grewal

Gurbir Grewal Career in law enforcement

Gurbir Grewal became the 61^st attorney general of the state of New Jersey following the inauguration of Governor Phil Murphy on Jan. 16, 2018. He was confirmed unanimously by the New Jersey Senate.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie nominated Grewal to lead the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office in 2013, but Grewal was never scheduled for a New Jersey Senate confirmation hearing then.

Gurbir Grewal was confirmed by the State Senate when tapped by Christie the second time around in January 2016 as an acting prosecutor and was finalized in the role in November 2016.

In this capacity, Grewal has concentrated on fighting the opioid epidemic and white-collar crimes and strengthening relations between police and communities. In July 2017, while Bergen County prosecutor,

Grewal ordered the Mahwah, New Jersey police department not to enforce a ban on non-New Jersey residents using Mahwah parks, stating his concern that a ban could lead to anti-Semitic religious profiling against Orthodox Jews visiting from neighboring Rockland County, New York.

On July 26, 2018, two WKXW radio show hosts were suspended for calling Grewal “turban man” on air. In September 2018, then-Bergen County sheriff Michael Saudino resigned under public official pressure, after secretly recorded comments were released disparaging Grewal’s wearing a turban alongside derogatory remarks about other groups of people.

Gurbir Grewal New Jersey Attorney General

Gurbir Grewal became the 61^st attorney general of the state of New Jersey following the inauguration of Governor Phil Murphy on Jan. 16, 2018. He was confirmed unanimously by the New Jersey Senate.

“I am honored and humbled to assume the role of the attorney general at this critical time for our state and country. I am grateful to Governor Murphy and the Senate for the trust they have placed in me and I look forward to continuing my service to the state of New Jersey.

There’s much to do, and I can’t wait to get started,” said Attorney General Grewal. Prior to his selection as New Jersey attorney general, Grewal served as Bergen County prosecutor, the chief law enforcement officer of the most populous county in New Jersey and home to nearly 1 million residents living in 70 municipalities.

Gurbir Grewal worked as an assistant U.S. attorney (AUSA) in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey from 2010 to 2016. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he served as chief of the Economic Crimes Unit from 2014 to 2016 and oversaw the investigation and prosecution of all major white-collar and cybercrimes in the district of New Jersey.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Grewal also served as an AUSA in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York from 2004 to 2007, where he was ultimately assigned to the Business and Securities Fraud Unit.

As an AUSA in the Eastern District of New York, he investigated and prosecuted a wide range of narcotics offenses, white-collar crimes, and terrorism cases. His significant matters included the successful prosecution of 12 men charged with providing material support to the Tamil Tigers terrorist organization.

In addition to his work as a federal prosecutor, Grewal has also worked in private practice, including at Howrey LLP (from 1999 to 2004 in Washington, D.C., and from 2008 to 2010 in New York, N.Y.).

While at Howrey LLP, he counseled clients on a range of matters including securities, trademark, antitrust and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues; represented individuals and companies in government investigations and criminal proceedings; conducted internal investigations for public corporations; and conducted civil trials.

March 2019

In March 2019, as New Jersey’s Attorney General, Grewal touted the first arrests resulting from a law signed in 2018 by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy outlawing ghost guns, stating,

“When you see repeatedly the same address, with the same individuals, at the same location continuing to order parts and parts and parts and parts for the same types of guns, some red flags have to go up, that what’s going on here is not somebody who’s an enthusiast or a hobbyist, but rather somebody who’s engaged in illegal trafficking.

And that is part of the problem with ghost gun manufacturers, that they are playing fast and loose with our rules.” Days later, Grewal filed the first of its kind lawsuit against a ghost gun manufacturer, U.S. Patriot Armory, accusing the company of violating New Jersey’s ghost gun ban by ignoring a cease-and-desist order to stop selling rifle-assembly kits to New Jersey buyers.

Also in March 2019, Grewal filed lawsuits against ExxonMobil, DuPont, and 3M, accusing the companies of polluting sites in New Jersey; he stated,

“We’re sending a strong message to polluters that no matter how big you are, or how powerful you are, or how long you’ve been getting away with contaminating your state’s natural resources, we are going to hold you accountable in court.”

On March 28, 2019, Grewal announced a directive to all 21 New Jersey county prosecutors to institute college campus outreach protocols to impede sexual violence at the collegiate level.

April 2019

In April 2019, Grewal announced updated standards for dealing with bias incidents. Also in April 2019, he called for monitoring of comments on the Facebook page of “Rise Up Ocean County”, a group which has been called home for anti-Semitic sentiment targeting the rapidly growing Orthodox Jewish population of Lakewood and surrounding Ocean County, New Jersey.

On April 26, 2019, Grewal asked for the resignation of the director of the Elizabeth, New Jersey Police Department amid a scandal over racist and sexist slurs and also replaced the Union County county prosecutor.

May 2019

On May 1, 2019, Gurbir Grewal announced the dismantling of a mafia gambling and loansharking operation and also launched an investigation into prior corporate tax loopholes afforded the by New Jersey’s Development Authority.

On May 6, 2019, Gurbir Grewal filed suit against the Department of Justice to force disclosure of any evidence of influence-peddling upon the Justice Department’s decision to oppose legalized online gambling across the U.S.

On May 8, 2019, Grewal indicated that the City of Newark had exceeded its statutory authority by affording civilians subpoena powers over the city’s police department.

On May 10, 2019, Gurbir Grewal joined state attorneys general from across the country in filing a lawsuit against 20 generic pharmaceuticals companies, 11 of which were based in New Jersey, along with several individuals, accusing them of collusion and price-fixing.

On May 14, 2019, Grewal announced a lawsuit against several large chemical companies, accusing them of selling toxic firefighting foam for decades while knowing the health risks they posed to the public and to the environment.

June 2019

In June 2019, Gurbir Grewal’s office forced a Bloomfield, Essex County restaurant which had posted a “males only” hiring sign to pay $1,000 and implement an anti-discrimination policy and employee training in a settlement; Grewal stated that gender discrimination would not be tolerated in the overall hiring process.

In mid-June, Grewal filed a lawsuit against a Nevada gun dealer for selling high-capacity gun magazines illegally to an undercover agent in New Jersey, despite a prior cease-and-desist order issued to the company barring the marketing, selling, and shipping of high-capacity gun magazines to New Jersey residents.

August 2019

On August 6, 2019, Gurbir Grewal announced the creation of the first U.S. statewide program to support the mental health of police officers. The goal of the program would be to train officers in emotional resiliency and to help destigmatize mental health issues.

On August 8, Gurbir Grewal announced the dismantling of two major drug- and gun-trafficking criminal organizations, accompanied by the arrests of 28 individuals and the seizure of significant amounts of narcotics, ammunition, and cash.

Gurbir Grewal Net worth

Gurbir Grewal is an American Attorney General of the State of New Jersey who has an estimated net worth of $ 9 million dollars as of 2019.

Gurbir Grewal Before becoming Attorney General

Since Gurbir Grewal assumed office, as Attorney he has focused on the attention of protecting the interests of New Jersey residents by expanding affirmative litigation, strengthening police-community relations, reducing violent crime and fighting the opioid epidemic.

Before becoming New Jersey Attorney General, Grewal served as Bergen County Prosecutor, the chief law enforcement officer of the most populous county in New Jersey and home to nearly 1 million residents living in 70 municipalities.

As Bergen County Prosecutor, Grewal supervised a staff of 265 personnel and had supervisory authority over approximately 2,700 sworn law enforcement officers across 74 law enforcement agencies.

Among other accomplishments during his tenure, he developed and implemented several creative approaches designed to tackle the heroin and opioid crisis, including “Operation Helping Hand,” a program that offers low-level drug offenders treatment options upon arrest.

He also established a Community Affairs Unit, which is dedicated to assisting local departments to improve police/community relations. From 2010 to 2016, Grewal worked as an Assistant United States Attorney

(“AUSA”) in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he served as Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit from 2014 to 2016 and oversaw the investigation and prosecution of all major white-collar and cybercrimes in the District of New Jersey.

He was the lead prosecutor in United States v. Drinkman, et al., the largest known data breach prosecution in which the conspirators participated in a worldwide scheme that targeted major corporate networks and stole more than 160 million credit card numbers, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

He was also the lead prosecutor in United States v. Weinstein, et al., a $200 million Ponzi scheme in which the lead defendant was sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment. Before becoming a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Grewal also served as an AUSA in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York from 2004 to 2007, where he was ultimately assigned to the Business and Securities Fraud Unit.

In addition to his work as a federal prosecutor, Grewal has also worked in private practice, including at Howrey LLP (from 1999 to 2004 in Washington, D.C., and from 2008 to 2010 in New York, NY).