Photo Caption: Shutterstock Working on cases involving smuggled antiquities, murderous drug dealers and alleged fraud by a major investment bank helped 11 prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York received recognition last week at the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys 34th annual Director's Awards. The prosecutors were among the more-than 160 federal attorneys and agents recognized at a ceremony held on Friday in Washington, D.C. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Belz, Edward Newman, Jeremy Turk and Ryan Wilson were recognized for their work on United States v. Deutsche Bank, in which the bank was accused of misleading investors about residential mortgage-backed securities; the case resulted in a $7.2 billion settlement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Taryn Merkl, Alixandra Smith and Michael Robotti were recognized for their successful prosecution of two leaders of a violent gang based in Brooklyn, which included an 11-week trial for charges of racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, narcotics trafficking, money laundering and witness tampering. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth DuCharme and Melody Wells earned recognition for their work in launching the Disruption and Early Engagement Program, a counterterrorism initiative. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karin Orenstein was lauded for her efforts in using civil forfeiture to combat trafficking of stolen cultural goods, which included successfully negotiating in U.S. v. 450 Ancient Cuneiform Tablets the return of thousands of stolen Iraqi artifacts that had been improperly imported by Hobby Lobby. The office also tipped its hat to Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg and her team at the Department of Justice's narcotics and dangerous drugs section for their successful prosecution of members of the brutal Los Zetas cartel for killing a Department of Homeland Security Investigations agent during an attempted carjacking in Mexico.