Geoffrey Steven Berman (born September 12, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. Berman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1990 to 1994. In January 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Berman's appointment as interim U.S. Attorney for a statutory period of 120 days. On April 25, 2018, the judges of the Southern District of New York, pursuant to , unanimously appointed Berman U.S. Attorney for an indeterminate term that extended "until the vacancy is filled", which may or may not include the appointment of a presidential nominee approved by the Senate. On June 19, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced in a press release that Berman was "stepping down" effective July 3 and that Jay Clayton, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would be nominated as his replacement. Hours later, Berman stated that he had not resigned and would not resign until "a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate." At the time that Trump and Barr sought his ouster, Berman was reportedly investigating Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for alleged crimes relating to his activities in Ukraine. On June 20, Barr told Berman that he had been fired by Trump at Barr's request and that the deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss would serve as acting U.S. Attorney. Berman then agreed to resign immediately. Early life Geoffrey Steven Berman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Marie (Edelman) and Ronald Berman, a developer of Trenton real estate properties. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School in 1981. He then studied law at Stanford Law School, where he obtained a Juris Doctor in 1984. During law school, he was the Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review. Career Berman began his career as a clerk for Judge Leonard I. Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 1987 to 1990 he served as an associate to independent counsel Lawrence Walsh during the Iran–Contra affair investigation. There, he was part of a team that prosecuted former CIA employee Thomas G. Clines for tax fraud. Assistant United States Attorney (1990–1994) Berman served