THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                      (San Salvador, El Salvador)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     March 10, 1999

                 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES GREGORY A. VEGA 
                        AS UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 
                 FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

The President today announced his intent to nominate Gregory A. Vega to serve as United States Attorney for the Southern District of California.

Mr. Gregory A. Vega, of San Diego, California, has served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California since 1987. He works in the Major Frauds and Crimes Unit, where he handles litigation involving complex white collar criminal cases and specializes in the areas of tax and bank fraud. From 1983-1987, he was Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. From 1980-1983, he was Tax Attorney for the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Vega is the immediate past president of the Hispanic National Bar Association. He has chaired the State Bar of California Criminal Law Advisory Commission and represented the Department of Justice as an advisor to the Republic of Panama Attorney General's Office on law enforcement matters. In 1990, he represented the Department of Justice in Mexico at the first "Binational Prosecutors Conference."

Mr. Vega received a B.S. degree from Indiana University and a J.D. degree from Valparaiso University School of Law.

United States Attorneys are the chief federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers for the 94 federal judicial districts. They have principal responsibility for the prosecution of federal matters in their district.

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