Cy Vance Biography
Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. (born June 14, 1954) is the incumbent New York County District Attorney (Manhattan), and was previously a principal at the law firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C. He is the son of the late Cyrus Vance, former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter. He is known as an outspoken critic of encryption of mobile devices. In October 2018, several news organizations reported that Vance and his office were under investigation for allegedly refusing to prosecute the adult children of Donald Trump following reports of improprieties in real estate transactions.
The nonprofit newsroom The City starts out strong with an exposé Cy Vance’s lush travel spending https://t.co/Fj3xAVCEzO
— jagannath (@jagan520) May 31, 2019
Cy Vance is the Manhattan District Attorney. According to Fox News, Vance has ordered former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to be transferred from a minimum security Pennsylvania prison to New York’s notorious Riker’s Island prison. Manafort could be transferred to Riker’s as early as Thursday, June 6, according to Fox. Manafort will be held in solitary confinement for his own safety, the New York Post reports.
Manafort, who has already been convicted of 10 felonies in Virginia, also faces fraud charges in New York State. The DA’s office announced the charges in March 2019, after a grand jury indictment. “No one is beyond the law in New York,” Cy Vance said in a statement at the time. “Following an investigation commenced by our Office in March 2017, a Manhattan grand jury has charged Mr. Manafort with state criminal violations which strike at the heart of New York’s sovereign interests, including the integrity of our residential mortgage market.”
Early Life, Family, and Education
Vance grew up in New York City. He is the son of Grace Elsie (Sloane) and Cyrus Vance Sr., who served as Secretary of the Army under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Johnson, then Secretary of State to President Jimmy Carter.
Paul Manafort will reportedly be moved from federal lockup to Rikers Island https://t.co/patig6FrCY via @nypost. Have you gone of your freaking medicine Cy Vance. Rikers for Manafort? You are bat shit crazy!
— MCH (@charliesmeg) June 4, 2019
Vance attended the Buckley School and Groton School, and then he went on to graduate from Yale University. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982. While in law school, he planned campaign trips for Colorado Senator Gary Hart.
He moved to Seattle, Washington in 1989, and back to New York City in 2005. He and his wife, printer and photographer Peggy McDonnell, were married in 1984 and have two children.
He’s Been Accused of Being Too Soft on Powerful People — Including Members of the Trump Family
In 2012, according to a report by ProPublica, Manhattan prosecutors were building a possible case against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The case centered around alleged criminal misconduct in connection with the Trump SoHo building. The Trumps hired Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer with long-standing ties to Donald Trump Sr, to work on the case.
3/ At the request of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, a Democrat with burning hatred for all things Trump, a judge has ordered Paul Manafort moved from a minimum security prison in Pennsylvania to solitary confinement in NYC’s notorious Riker’s Island jail.
— ChopOMatic (@Chop0Matic) June 4, 2019
Kasowitz was one of the biggest donors to Cy Vance’s election campaign; he reportedly donated $25,000 to Vance’s 2012 re-election campaign. (Vance returned the money once Kasowitz started representing the Trumps.) In 2012, Kasowitz visited Vance’s office to request that the charges against Ivanka and Donald Jr be dropped. Three months later, Vance dropped the charges.
“I did not at the time believe beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime had been committed,” he told ProPublica. “I had to make a call and I made the call, and I think I made the right call.”
Six months later, according to ProPublica, Kasowitz made a series of donations to Vance’s office, totaling $50,000.
The FBI Investigated Vance After He Dropped Charges Against Harvey Weinstein & Others
The FBI opened an investigation into Cy Vance in 2018, after he dropped charges against a number of powerful people including Harvey Weinstein. The Daily News reported that the FBI was probing Vance’s handling of high-rofile cases after people connected to those cases had made sizeable donations to Vance’s election campaign.
Going to prison should not be an unsafe death sentence.. Rikers is an unsafe death sentence… that’s why they are talking about closing it… guards watching prisoners beat each other to death. Manafort wouldn’t lie so Democrat Cy Vance is treating him like a prisoner of war..
— C.R.TruthCrusader (@Sailingflyingd) June 4, 2019
Vance was widely criticized after his office decided not to bring a case against Harvey Weinstein, after the model Ambra Battilana said Weinstein groped her breasts in his Tribeca office. A lawyer hired by Weinstein at the time had given Vance a donation of $24,000 and another attorney made a $10,000 donation after the DA’s office decided not to arrest Weinstein.
His Father, Cyrus Vance Sr, Was Secretary of State in the Carter Administration
Cy Vance’s father served as Secretary of State during the Carter administration; before that, he was Deputy Secretary of Defense. He also served in Lyndon Johnson’s administration as Secretary of the Army.
Paul Manafort To Be Transferred To Rikers Island Because No Man Is Beyond The Reach Of The Deep State, Says Vindictive New York Dem DA Cy Vance https://t.co/hw4GrjhwJc
— Linda Hines Ensor (@hinesy65) June 4, 2019
Cy Jr told the New York Times that he remembered his father as a conflicted man, who struggled with many of the government policies he had to represent. He said he had a vivid memory of the day his father decided to resign, because he opposed President Carter’s decision to try to rescue American hostages held in Iran.
“He wasn’t overly emotional, but it was as if he had just run a marathon and was exhausted,” Vance said. “I remember he had a case of gout. He just was uncomfortable, unhappy and tired.”
He Grew Up in New York & in DC & Joined the DA’s Office After Graduating from Law School
Vance lived in New York, in a four-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side, until he was six years old. That’s when the family moved to Washington DC for his father’s political career. Vance rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful as a child, making friends with Caroline Kennedy and meeting Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House.
Vance studied at Yale and went on to earn a law degree from Georgetown before moving back o New York and going to work at the DA’s office.
He & His Wife Peggy McDonnell, Have two Children
Cy Vance is married to Peggy McDonnell, a photographer. You can also read more about Peggy McDonnell here. The couple first met when they were children; Vance has said that he originally had a crush on Peggy’s older sister, who had no interest in him. Cy and Peggy met again as young adults and began dating, eventually marrying in 1984. They have two grown children, Simon and Clare.
High-Flying Cy Vance Spent Forfeited Funds on Travel & Food https://t.co/JS2560Low2
— MSG7140 (@MSG7140) June 4, 2019