The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana announced Tuesday the departure of U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.
Laslovich served in the position since June 2022 after being nominated by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. His resignation was effective Monday. President Donald Trump will nominate a successor.
As the U.S. Attorney for Montana, Laslovich oversaw all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation on behalf of the U.S. government.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as the United States Attorney for the state that raised me,” Laslovich said in a press release. “I am profoundly grateful to the talented and hard-working people in this office, as well as our federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners who strive every day to uphold the rule of law, keep people safe, and steadfastly defend the interests of the United States of America. I have never been prouder to have served with them, and I will always be rooting hard for their continued safety and success.”
Laslovich highlighted his office’s work building partnerships with local, state, reservation and federal law enforcement. Those partnerships saw prosecutions of drug trafficking and sex crimes on Montana’s Indian Reservations and across the state.
One of those cases involved dismantling and prosecuting a large, multi-state drug trafficking organization that was based on the Crow Indian Reservation. The organization known as Spear Siding distributed methamphetamine and fentanyl to three other Montana Indian reservations and communities from suppliers in Washington and a Mexican cartel. The case resulted in 27 federal convictions in Montana.
Laslovich also oversaw a $10.8 million settlement with St. Peter’s Health to resolve an alleged violation of the False Claims Act involving former employee Dr. Thomas Weiner. The settlement agreement states St. Peter’s submitted false claims for payments to federal health care programs - including Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE - for services performed and referred by Dr. Weiner.
Prior to serving as a U.S. Attorney, Laslovich was the Regional Vice President for the SCL (Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth) Health Montana-Wyoming region. He has also had a long career in Montana politics and the Montana legal system.
The Anaconda native and University of Montana School of Law graduate worked as an assistant attorney general under Mike McGrath, the former Attorney General of Montana and current Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, from 2007 to 2008.
From 2009 to 2016, Laslovich served as Chief Legal Counsel in the office of the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance. During 2011 and 2012, he also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.
As a Democrat, Laslovich served in the Montana Senate from 2005 to 2010 and in the Montana House of Representatives from 2001 through 2004.
