Michael R. Sherwin (founding partner of the law firm TolmanSherwin PLLC) is a highly decorated federal prosecutor who most recently served during the first Trump Administration as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he supervised the largest federal prosecutor office in the United States. Under Mr. Sherwin's leadership, Michael brought several historic cases, including the largest seizure of illicit Iranian petroleum in U.S. history; the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) first seizure of illicit digital currency linked to al-Qaida and other designated terrorist groups; and the historic filing of criminal charges against Libyan national Abu Agela Masud, the alleged bomb-maker who constructed the explosive device that destroyed Pan AM 103 in December 1988, killing 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney in 2020, Mr. Sherwin was an Associate Deputy Attorney General, where he advised Attorney General William Barr on national security and sanctions matters. During that time, Mr. Sherwin worked closely with the National Security Council and provided DOJ leadership advice on sensitive counterintelligence matters, to include work on various complicated matters, including OFAC sanctions cases involving sensitive technology and the gas/oil industries.
Before Mr. Sherwin's duties in Washington, DC, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida (MiamI Division) for 12 years. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Sherwin did extensive work in South and Central America, where he prosecuted numerous drug cartels and kingpins on wide- scale money laundering and narcotics/weapons tracking cases. During that time Mr. Sherwin was the lead prosecutor in the conviction of Sigifredo Maya, a top member of the Medellín Cartel and close associate of Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder.
For six years, until 2018, Mr. Sherwin prosecuted securities fraud, tax fraud and banking/corporate fraud cases in the Economic Crimes Section. In 2016, he became Chief of the Health Care Fraud Section, supervising the largest Health Care Fraud Strike Force in the United States. Under Mr. Sherwin's leadership, his section led the nation in all federal health care fraud indictments, trials and asset forfeitures from 2016- 2018. In 2018, Mr. Sherwin joined the National Security Section, where he prosecuted counterintelligence and terrorism cases, specializing in economic espionage and state-sanctioned theft of trade secrets and assets/digital currency.
In addition to his work in Miami, in 2011 Mr. Sherwin was chosen by Attorney General Eric Holder to serve a special detail for the U.S. Department of State in Bagram, Afghanistan, where he assisted the Afghanistan Attorney General's Office in more than 120 primary court terrorism trials and 250 appellate cases before a specially convened Afghan judicial tribunal. These cases focused on prosecuting top-tier Taliban and al- Qaida explosives engineers, suicide-bomb recruiters and terrorism financiers.
Prior to his legal career, Mr. Sherwin served as a naval intelligence officer from 1999 to 2004, participating in Operation Southern Watch, Operation Northern Watch, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Mr. Sherwin served aboard both the USS John F. Kennedy and USS Theodore Roosevelt as the lead intelligence briefer and targeting officer for Navy fighter squadron VFA-82. Post-9/11, Mr. Sherwin was selected to join the intelligence staff of General Tommy Franks at United States Central Command (CENTCOM), assisting in the planning and execution of military combat and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. During Michael’s tour with CENTCOM, he conducted several high- profile interrogations of al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents and worked closely with numerous European and Middle Eastern/Gulf intelligence services. Sherwin was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal Oak Leaf Cluster in 2003, among other commendations for his military service.