Earl Silbert obit

Death of Earl Silbert

 

He was not on the list.

Long time NAFUSA member and president 1985-1986, Earl J. Sibert died on September 6, 2022, near his vacation home in New Hampshire. He was 86. In 1972, Mr. Silbert, then a 36-year-old Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., led the federal prosecution of defendants in the botched Watergate burglary. He and a team of two other AUSAs and FBI agents secured the convictions of all five burglars and two of the planners of the break-in, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. All defendants

except Mr. Liddy and James McCord pleaded guilty shortly after the trial began in January 1973. Mr. Silbert earned the title “Earl the Pearl,” for his polished manner during the case. After the trial, Mr. Silbert and his team met with others involved in the break in and cover up and later provided that information, along with names of potential targets, to Archibald Cox, who had been appointed Watergate Special Prosecutor.

Mr. Silbert obtained his Bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University in 1957 and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard in 1960. He began working for the Department of Justice’s Tax Division right out of law school before becoming an AUSA for five years in the Washington D.C. U.S. Attorneys Office. He returned to the Justice Department in 1969, briefly, before returning to the U.S. Attorneys Office in 1970. He became Interim U.S. Attorney in 1974 when his predecessor left because of illness.

Mr. Silbert was first nominated for the permanent position by President Nixon and later renominated by President Gerald Ford. He was finally confirmed by the Senate in October 1975 and served until 1979 when he left the office to enter private practice. He gained a national reputation for his white collar defense practice, representing, among others, former Attorney General Bell and Kenneth Lay, former chairman and CEO of Enron.

A flag was flown over the Department of Justice on September 15, 2022, in Mr. Silbert’s honor and will be presented to his family by NAFUSA member George Terwilliger at a memorial service to be held in October.