U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III asked to resign

U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III will clean out his desk Monday morning, as ordered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

But Saturday morning, as he hurried to take his children to a basketball tournament, Oberly told The News Journal he couldn't help but reflect on the privilege its been leading Delaware's top federal law enforcement agency the past six years.

"I just want to praise the staff. The staff has been great," said Oberly, who answered the door of his Brandywine Hunt home in pajama pants and an undershirt. "The thing I'll probably miss the most is I might not be there for the culmination of the Wilmington Trust case, which has been there since I started in the office."

Oberly was one of the 46 U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama who were asked by Sessions to submit their resignations as the new administration moves to "ensure a uniform transition." Oberly said the email telling him to resign immediately landed in his inbox about 9 p.m. Friday.

"It's certainly customary for an incoming president to appoint new U.S. attorneys," said Brandon Garrett, author of "Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations" and a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. "Such appointments are, however, a reminder of the need for independent investigations when ethical conflicts and even potential crimes affect an administration."

What will happen under a more business-friendly administration is unknown, Garrett said.

RELATED: Critics fear attorney dismissals could undermine probes

Last year, federal prosecutors under Oberly were able to add Wilmington Trust as a defendant to the criminal indictment already pending against four top-tier bank executives. Following the January 2016 indictment, some said it could send a message that banks will no longer be immune to criminal prosecution – and signal a prosecutorial push to hold financial institutions accountable.

Sessions' request came as a surprise to 70-year-old Oberly, who learned of his termination when a friend called to offer his condolences. Oberly said he accepts the decision, adding there are no guarantees when one is a political appointee.

"It wasn't the fact that you didn't know that this was likely to occur at some point and time," Oberly said. "I think the suddenness and abruptness struck everybody a little bit off guard."

Oberly has a long history of public service. He was elected in 1982 to the first of his three four-year terms as Delaware’s attorney general. After leaving the Attorney General's Office, which he held longer than anyone, Oberly entered private practice for about 15 years before being appointed by Obama.

Many of the nation's federal prosecutors nominated by Obama had already left their positions. Now President Donald Trump's administration wants a clean sweep.

"Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney's offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting and deterring the most violent offenders," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement emailed to USA Today.

STORY: Wilmington Trust: 'Not too big to jail'

STORY: Sessions seeks resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys

But not all U.S. attorneys went quietly.

Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for Manhattan, refused Saturday to write a letter of resignation, forcing the administration to fire him. Bharara had meet with Trump after the election and told reporters that the president asked him to remain in his position.

Bharara, once lauded on the cover of Time magazine as the man who is "busting Wall Street" after successfully prosecuting dozens of insider traders, has in the past few years set his sights on prosecuting over a dozen state officeholders — Democrats and Republicans — including New York's two most powerful lawmakers, the Associated Press reported.

"I did not resign," Bharara said in a tweet. "Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life."

But the resignations of some U.S. attorneys have not been accepted.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Trump telephoned U.S. Attorneys Dana Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia and Rod Rosenstein of the District of Maryland to say "that he has declined to accept their resignation, and they will remain in their current positions."

Boente is the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, appointed by Trump to replace Sally Yates, who was dismissed by Trump after she refused to defend his travel ban. Rosenstein was nominated to his position under President George W. Bush.

Oberly is not optimistic that he will receive a call asking him to stay longer.

However, he added, "If they offer, I would stay on as long as I could."

It is customary for the country's 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions once a new president is in office, but typically the attorneys are allowed to stay on the job until their successor is confirmed. Oberly said he was under the impression that tradition would hold.

"But something obviously has occurred that has caused the administration to say, 'We're getting rid of all the U.S. attorneys that are presidentially appointed,'" Oberly said.

Wilmington attorney Bart Dalton, the friend who broke the news Friday afternoon to Oberly, said he thought the U.S. attorney general would have told the attorneys before it became a national news story.

"It's unjust that somebody of that kind of service, and many of these people who have given great service to the country, find out that their services are no longer wanted by CNN," said Dalton, who was Oberly's first chief deputy attorney general when Oberly was elected Delaware attorney general in 1982. "It's undignified and not in keeping with what the Justice Department should stand for."

Sen. Chris Coons' office issued a statement Saturday on Oberly: "During his tenure, the office has pursued important criminal and civil cases. I want to thank Charlie for his dedication and tireless work to make our community safer."

Oberly's December 2010 appointment as U.S. attorney for Delaware came nearly two years after Colm F. Connolly, then-President George W. Bush's nominee, departed the office in January 2009.

Wilmington Trust was one of the biggest challenges on Oberly's watch.

In 2008, the U.S. Treasury invested $330 million in Wilmington Trust through TARP bailout money. Two years later, Wilmington Trust was brought to its knees with the real estate crash in Kent and Sussex counties and, in one of the biggest fire sales in banking history, agreed in October 2010 to be sold at a stunning discount to M&T Bank Corp. of Buffalo, New York.

The deal resulted in shareholders taking huge losses and more than 600 employees losing their jobs. Shareholders could now be facing even more uncertainty with the inclusion of Wilmington Trust in the indictment.

The bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of M&T, meaning that it is still in existence as Wilmington Trust, but all of its shares are owned by M&T.

By including Wilmington Trust in the indictment, that money comes into play for any potential fine or restitution that might come out of the case. M&T also could be on the hook for any regulatory consequences of its subsidiary, such as a risk of suspension or debarment and financial fines.

The case is still pending, and a trial is scheduled for October.

Oberly said he is confident that his team will carry on in a professional and highly competent fashion.

"I've had good people," Oberly said. "If I have any legacies, I think we always try to do what was fair and just."

Oberly's office handled multiple criminal cases, including the prosecution of David Matusiewicz, sister Amy Gonzalez and mother Lenore Matusiewicz – the first defendants in America to be charged and convicted with cyberstalking resulting in death.

The charges stemmed from a heinous double murder inside the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, formerly the New Castle County Courthouse, on Feb. 11, 2013. That's when Thomas Matusiewicz shot and killed his ex-daughter-in-law, Christine Belford, and her friend Laura "Beth" Mulford, as they walked into the courthouse for a child support hearing. Thomas Matusiewicz exchanged gunfire with police before killing himself.

After the shooting, prosecutors accused Thomas Matusiewicz's widow, Lenore Matusiewicz, and their two children of waging a vicious campaign to harass and stalk Belford and her daughters in the three years leading up to her death. Federal prosecutors have pointed to a web of emails, letters and other correspondence that attacked Belford's character and accused her of sexually abusing their oldest daughter, a fact the government, judge and eldest daughter said was not true.

A Delaware jury found the three guilty in July 2015 of various charges, including cyberstalking, conspiracy and interstate stalking. The legal standard for doing so was somewhat untested. To find the defendants' guilty of cyberstalking resulting in death, the jury didn't have to find that the family knew of Thomas Matusiewicz's intent to kill – only that they could have reasonably foreseen, based on their own conduct, that Thomas Matusiewicz would shoot Belford.

The three were sentenced to life in prison last year. Lenore Matusiewicz has since died.

"It was a fabulous prosecution," Oberly said of his team's work. "They worked really, really hard on that."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.