SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) - U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg has announced her resignation from her position in the Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office. Her last day in office will be Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. U.S. Attorney Steinberg served as the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Officer for the 43-county Southern District of Georgia since being sworn into office on Feb. 22, 2023. “Serving as U.S. Attorney has been a distinct honor and privilege, and I am grateful for the hard work, camaraderie, and friendship of the dedicated professionals who continue to serve on behalf of the American people,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “Representing the United States in court is an incredible responsibility, and those who seek justice on behalf of our nation deserve our lasting gratitude. I am proud to have served alongside them.” During Steinberg’s tenure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office: Completed a statewide investigation that identified unconstitutional conditions at Georgia’s state prisons. Worked to hold accountable individuals responsible for more than $12 million in pandemic relief fraud. Successfully prosecuted criminal cases including drug trafficking conspiracies, large-scale fraud operations, child sexual exploitation crimes, and nearly 200 cases involving illegal firearms possession.  Criminal prosecutions for drugs, violent crime Operation Ghost Busted, the largest single drug trafficking indictment returned in the Southern District of Georgia, was designed to address, and did in fact address, the significant uptick of overdose deaths in the Brunswick, Georgia, area. The defendants, many of them affiliated with a white supremacist gang, collectively have been sentenced to more than 4,000 months in prison, including one defendant who received a life sentence. In Operation Night Drop, the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted 15 defendants – many of them inmates in Georgia state prisons – for operating a widespread methamphetamine trafficking operation that used drones to deliver contraband to incarcerated conspirators. The U.S. Attorney’s Office successfully prosecuted a violent extremist who used a weapon of mass destruction on a Savannah street, and another who stalked a woman before using an explosive on her home. U.S. Attorney Steinberg took great care to ensure federal resources were used to vigorously defend against those who threatened our national security; the office prosecuted a hostile foreign state actor for exporting restricted equipment and information, and an individual for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency. Fighting financial fraud The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the supervisor of the Glynn County public works department for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for his own personal benefit. An individual who used the complex and emerging world of cryptocurrency to defraud multiple individual victims of over a million dollars was sent to prison. An office manager who abused her position of trust to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from a prominent real estate management company received a prison sentence and was ordered to pay restitution. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted multiple individuals who committed millions of dollars in tax fraud and fraudulently accessed pandemic relief programs. The office successfully tried a years-long prosecution with the Antitrust Division involving a concrete company and its associates for engaging in anti-competitive practices such as price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation. The office reached a $3.9 million settlement with two companies whose employee was murdered when he exposed a scheme by other employees to illegally profit from undocumented laborers. U.S. Attorney Steinberg also oversaw the revival of the district’s Human Trafficking Task Force and supported the office’s efforts to provide law enforcement training and public education on human trafficking. Steinberg was a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) and the AGAC White Collar, Cyber, and Violent Crime Subcommittees. The AGAC is composed of select U.S. Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on matters of policy, procedure, and management that impact the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. “It is my hope that the citizens of the Southern District of Georgia will feel safer and better informed and empowered through our outreach efforts,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “Knowledge is a powerful tool, and informed citizens are a vital part of protecting our civil rights and the security of our neighborhoods.” Steinberg began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office from 1998 to 2001. She received her Juris Doctor from Duke University Law School in 1998 and her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia in 1995.