A group composed of legal and press freedom nonprofits has recently lodged a bar complaint against Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John Sarcone III. The nonprofits allege that he may have “engaged in dishonest and unethical conduct warranting discipline.”

The five-page complaint comes after a series of critical reports from the Times Union, the major daily newspaper for the Albany region.

According to one report, President Donald Trump’s appointee for upstate New York is accused of using a false address to meet residency requirements that mandate the top federal prosecutor in any district to reside within that district.

The complaint bluntly refers to the supposed residence as a “boarded up, uninhabitable Albany property,” which it claims “appears strategically intended to demonstrate his compliance with federal residency requirements for U.S. Attorneys.”

It further highlights that in 2024, Sarcone had launched an “unsuccessful” bid for the office of Westchester County District Attorney “which is located more than 100 miles from Albany, where his main residence in the town of Cortlandt is situated.”

“That’s the residence that I have — that I established when I got here,” the prosecutor told the newspaper, referring to the Albany building.

The bar complaint goes on to detail additional incidents of “alleged egregious dishonesty” involving the interim federal prosecutor.

The complaint also asserts, citing another Times Union report, that he allegedly misled the press by stating that a panel of federal judges voted to prolong his interim tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York beyond its standard 120-day term.

In yet another allegation, the bar complaint takes Sarcone to task for allegedly pressuring law enforcement to charge an alleged knife-brandishing man with attempted murder after being told the criminal defendant could only be charged with menacing. In that case, the man in question was charged by the local sheriff’s office with attempted murder, but the local district attorney’s office eventually downgraded the charge.

“Of course, a licensed attorney and an officer of the court making misleading public statements and pressing for unwarranted criminal charges are all grounds for disciplinary action, as is filing false affidavits and making false statements to circumvent residency requirements to serve as a federal prosecutor,” the complaint reads. “Sarcone should be disciplined for that misconduct if the Committee’s investigation confirms the allegations, especially given the betrayal of trust reflected in any alleged attempts by Sarcone to mislead the public in order to serve in a position for which he arguably was not eligible.”

The organizations, however, insist all those claims are a prelude to the main reason they want Sarcone investigated by an ethics panel.

And here, the Times Union is undeniably part of the story.

The organizations – Reinvent Albany, Demand Progress Education Fund and Freedom of the Press Foundation – allege the prosecutor retaliated against the newspaper for its reporting on “the residency issue.” Again, the complaint references a Times Union story.

“The Times Union reported on July 9, 2025 that Sarcone directed his staff to remove the Times Union and its staff members from his U.S. Attorney’s office’s media distribution list following its June 27 reporting,” the complaint goes on. “He reportedly sent an email to all of his assistant U.S. attorneys seeking to confirm that the Times Union had been removed from the list.”

In that story, which cites anonymous sources, Sarcone is described as “incensed by the article” about the residency requirement.

“Maybe so, but it is a classic violation of the First Amendment for public officials to retaliate against media outlets that criticize or investigate them, including by removing them from press lists,” the complaint continues before referencing a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling about government retaliation. “It is well-established that the First Amendment ‘prohibits government officials from subjecting an individual to retaliatory actions for engaging in protected speech.'”

The complaint elaborates on the First Amendment issue, at length:

Sarcone’s reported alleged dishonesty with respect to his personal affairs alone warrants investigation and discipline if the allegations are confirmed, but his disregard for the First Amendment has far greater impact on the residents of his district. Like all Americans, they are entitled to hear and read criticism of local officials from a free press unrestrained by the threat of unconstitutional retaliation from government officials who should know better. We are also gravely concerned that allowing enormously powerful prosecutors to punish protected criticisms with impunity will ultimately intimidate those New York residents into silence.

Citing the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, the complaint suggests Sarcone abused his office and may be unable to fulfill his professional role as a lawyer. To that end, the complaint highlights four rules “that may have been violated” as the basis for an investigation.

The organizations point bar authorities to the rule requiring competent representation, the rule barring lawyers from making statements likely to cause material prejudice in a matter they are involved, the rule prohibiting attorneys from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, and the rule prohibiting conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

“We respectfully request that the Committee open an investigation to determine whether Sarcone’s conduct described above violates the Rules of Professional Conduct, and impose appropriate sanctions,” the complaint concludes. “Given the importance of Sarcone’s role as U.S. Attorney, and the level of competence and integrity that the public is entitled to expect from someone in that position, complainants believe suspension or disbarment would be appropriate.”

Law&Crime reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York for comment on this story, but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.

This is the second bar complaint filed against Sarcone since he assumed his post in the second Trump administration’s Department of Justice. Earlier this month, the Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit government watchdog, filed a complaint citing six of the rules governing attorney behavior in the Empire State.