Gov. Mikie Sherrill has nominated a former federal prosecutor as the state’s insurance fraud prosecutor.
Bernard Cooney, a Montclair resident who worked with Sherrill at the U.S. Attorney’s office, assumed the post on an interim basis last week as he awaits State Senate confirmation.
Cooney was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2013 to 2022, and again from 2023 until last March, and served as chief of the health care fraud unit. He also headed the government fraud unit, and worked as a counsel for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He’s spent the last two months as a partner at a Montclair criminal defense firm…