The prosecutors, who were drawn heavily from the graduating classes of elite Ivy League law schools, tended to believe that cases weren’t important until they got involved and did all the preparation required to bring them to trial. Preet Bharara’s pattern of announcing new charges at press conferences threw gasoline on the smoldering resentment. He usually thanked his “partners” at the FBI and the SEC, but the optics made clear that he was the one bringing the Wall Street criminals to justice.
