NOTE: Preet Bharara will receive the JPM Award at a gala ceremony on Monday, June 12.
Click here to purchase tickets, and join us in honoring Preet Bharara!
On Monday, June 12, as The Interfaith Center of New York celebrates its twentieth anniversary with a gala at the Tribeca Rooftop, we will also be honoring two individuals and a community for their extraordinary work in the area of facilitating communication, understanding and respect between diverse peoples and communities. This honor is known as the “James Parks Morton” award, named after the Interfaith Center’s founder and chair emeritus. The “JPM” award has previously been bestowed on leaders such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Carl Sagan, President Bill Clinton, and Sister Pat Farrell, among many others.
This year, one recipient of the James Parks Morton award will be Preet Bharara, who served as US Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2009-2017. In 2012, Mr. Bharara was featured on the cover of Time magazine for his office’s prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street. He took important steps to restore the public trust in US financial systems by prosecuting almost 100 individuals who prioritized personal gain over the public good and broke insider trading laws in doing so. Mr. Bharara brought to accountability some of the most powerful New York politicians from both political parties and investigations have helped re-establish confidence in government for all of New York’s diverse communities. In 2011, Mr. Bharara’s office mounted a coordinated effort against organized crime in Brooklyn, Newark, and Providence, Rhode Island that, according to the FBI, was the largest single-day operation against the Mafia in U.S. history. Finally, under his watch, hate crimes that target too many faith communities in New York were justly investigated and prosecuted. As someone from a Sikh and Hindu background in a family that also embraces Muslim and Jewish heritage, Mr. Bharara exemplifies the promise of an interfaith approach to public service and justice.
