--- alias: - Maurene R. Comey - Maurene Ryan Comey category: Law Enforcement & Legal created: 2026-09-25 location: New York, New York relations: - end: 2025-07-16 fn: 1 role: assistant U.S. attorney start: 2015-11 type: employed_by with: '[[U.S. Attorney''s Office for the Southern District of New York]]' - end: 2021-12-29 fn: 2 role: trial prosecutor start: 2020-07-02 type: prosecuted with: '[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]' - fn: 2 role: daughter type: relative_of with: '[[James Comey]]' - fn: 3 role: wife type: spouse_of with: '[[Lucas Issacharoff]]' summary: Maurene Comey is the former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases and was fired without stated cause in July 2025, nine days after the Justice Department's Epstein memorandum. tags: - Person - JeffreyEpstein - GhislaineMaxwell - SDNY - Prosecutor - Firing - JamesComey updated: 2026-09-25 --- Maurene Comey is an American lawyer who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the [U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York](/organizations/us-attorneys-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/) from November 2015 until July 16, 2025. She was one of the three prosecutors assigned to the 2019 case against [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) and prosecuted [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/), who was convicted in December 2021, as well as the gynecologist Robert Hadden, former Senator Bob Menendez, and Sean Combs. The [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/) fired her by email "pursuant to Article II of the [United States](/places/united-states/) Constitution" nine days after its July 7, 2025 memorandum declaring that no Epstein "client list" existed and that no further disclosure was warranted. She is the daughter of the former [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) Director James Comey. She sued in September 2025, alleging she was fired because of her father or her perceived politics.[^1][^2][^3][^4] ### Career Comey joined the office in November 2015, rose to lead several units, and later asked to return to trial work. On July 8, 2019, U.S. Attorney [Geoffrey Berman](/people/geoffrey-berman/) announced that she, Alex Rossmiller, and Alison Moe were the prosecutors on the Epstein case, which the office had assigned to its Public Corruption Unit; she appears on the docket of United States v. Epstein as counsel for the government. After Epstein's death in August 2019 Comey was a lead prosecutor in the case against Maxwell, who was arrested on July 2, 2020; Maxwell was convicted on December 29, 2021 and sentenced to 20 years. Comey's last trial was the 2025 prosecution of Combs, in which she questioned key witnesses including Combs's former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym "Jane"; Combs was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking and convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.[^1][^2][^5][^6] ### Firing In May 2025 her father posted an image on Instagram that some supporters of President [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) read as a threat against him; James Comey denied any such intent. The activist Laura Loomer then called for Maurene Comey and her husband, Lucas Issacharoff, also a Justice Department lawyer, to be "FIRED from the DOJ immediately." Issacharoff resigned that month.[^3] On July 7, 2025, the Justice Department and FBI issued a memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'," found "no credible evidence" that Epstein blackmailed prominent people, and concluded "that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." On July 15 the U.S. Attorney's Office asked Comey to take the lead on a major public corruption case, three months after she received an "Outstanding" performance review. Just before 5 p.m. on July 16 she received an email with an attachment removing her "[p]ursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States." According to her lawsuit, the interim U.S. Attorney, [Jay Clayton](/people/jay-clayton/), told her: "All I can say is it came from Washington. I can't tell you anything else." A person familiar with the matter told CNN that being a Comey was untenable in the administration because her father was "constantly going after the administration." Loomer said afterward that the firing followed "my pressure campaign on [Attorney General Pam Bondi]." Later that month Deputy Attorney General [Todd Blanche](/people/todd-blanche/) interviewed Maxwell over two days under limited immunity, and on August 1 she was moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.[^2][^3][^4][^7] In a farewell message to colleagues Comey wrote: "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought." On September 15, 2025 she sued the Justice Department, the Executive Office of the President, and Attorney General [Pam Bondi](/people/pam-bondi/), among others, in federal court in Manhattan, seeking reinstatement and back pay; the complaint alleged that "Defendants fired Ms. Comey solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both." The Justice Department declined to comment.[^1][^3] ### The Maxwell Case File, July 2025 On July 22, 2025, six days after Comey's dismissal and two days before Blanche began his interview of Maxwell, an email chain in which one participant's signature reads "FBI NY Violent Crime Threat" assembled a case history of the Maxwell prosecution. It recorded that the FBI New York Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force had opened the Epstein case on December 6, 2018 at the request of the Southern District, that Maxwell "was first mentioned in the case file on 04/23/2019," and that "SDNY proffered Maxwell with her Defense counsel prior to indictment." The requester asked, "Can you down draft the proffer 302s," noting that "SDNY kept notes," and asked why the perjury counts were never tried; the answer given was that "the perjury charges were dropped to prevent the victims from testifying in another trial." On the status of Maxwell's appeal the respondent wrote, "I dont have details of appeal process prior to this from Comey," and then set out Comey's account: "Maxwell has until April 10, 2025 to file a Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court. If she files a writ (which seems likely), it will remain pending until the Supreme Court either grants or denies certiorari," after which she would have "the option of seeking habeas review under 28 USC 2255 within one year."[^8] [^1]: "Maurene Comey, prosecutor in Epstein and Combs cases and daughter of former FBI director, sues after being fired." *CNN,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/politics/maurene-comey-justice-department-lawsuit (joined November 2015; unit chief; Article II email; Clayton quote; Combs trial; Hadden; public corruption assignment). [^2]: "Maurene Comey, federal prosecutor in Epstein case, fired from US attorney's office." *CNN,* July 16, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/maurene-comey-fired-sdny (lead prosecutor on Epstein and Maxwell; daughter of James Comey; person familiar quote). [^3]: Atkins, Chloe. "Former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sues Trump administration over her firing." *NBC News,* September 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/former-federal-prosecutor-maurene-comey-sues-trump-admin-firing-rcna231406 ; Breuninger, Kevin. "Trump DOJ sued by Epstein prosecutor Maurene Comey over 'illegal' firing." *CNBC,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/15/trump-comey-epstein-fired.html (Instagram post; Loomer; Issacharoff resignation; "Outstanding" review; farewell letter; defendants; relief; Loomer's later statement). [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline= [^5]: United States v. Epstein, No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), docket, attorneys of record. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/ ; "Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* July 8, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/jeffrey-epstein-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-minors [^6]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse [^7]: "Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's interview." *CNN,* August 22, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-doj-documents-08-22-25 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas." *CNN,* August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas [^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00161422, DataSet 9, internal email chain, "Re: Ghislaine Maxwell," July 22, 2025, EFTA00161422 to EFTA00161424. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00161422.pdf