By Colin A. Young
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump's nomination of Andrew Lelling as the U.S. attorney for the district of Massachusetts, clearing the way for a new top federal prosecutor to set up shop in Boston.

A 16-year veteran of the Justice Department, Lelling is already familiar with the office, having served most recently as senior litigation counsel in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office. He succeeds Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb, who took over when Carmen Ortiz resigned in January.

"I am honored to be confirmed as the United States attorney and I look forward to serving the residents of Massachusetts," Lelling said in a statement. "As a federal prosecutor, I have had the privilege of working with some of the best federal and state law enforcement officers in the country. As U.S. attorney, I will continue to collaborate with these distinguished public servants to fulfill the mission of the Department of Justice."

Trump nominated Lelling in September and the Senate confirmed him for a four-year term on a voice vote Thursday.

Lelling will take over the office that last week unsealed a 113-count indictment against former state Sen. Brian Joyce, including charges of racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.

He has also worked as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia and was counsel to the assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Lelling graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1994 and earned his bachelor's degree in literature and rhetoric from Binghamton University in 1991. Until recently, he taught an upper-level seminar on securities regulation and enforcement at New England School of Law in Boston, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.