[4] Upon graduating from Georgetown, Vance joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as an Assistant District Attorney, where he supervised grand jury investigations and prosecuted cases involving murder, organized crime, career criminals, political corruption, international art fraud, and white-collar crime.
[citation needed] He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for Modern Courts, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation.
[10] On March 9, 2009, 10 days after Morgenthau made his decision to retire public, Vance officially announced his candidacy for the office.
[14] Other Democrats who endorsed Vance included former Mayor David Dinkins,[15] Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum,[16] Gloria Steinem, Caroline Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Innocence Project co-founders Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld.
candidate Leslie Crocker Snyder, and Richard Aborn, another former Assistant District Attorney and gun control advocate, in the September 15, 2009, Democratic primary.
[25] The victory ensured that Vance would become only the fourth person to run the office since 1941, given the traditional absence during Morgenthau's tenure of a Republican backed opponent.
"[36] Jennifer Gaffney, then deputy chief of Vance's sex crimes unit, stated at the hearing that, “There is only an indictment for one victim.
In January 2011, the District Attorney's Forensic Sciences/ Cold Case Unit announced an indictment against serial killer Rodney Alcala for two Manhattan homicides in the 1970s.
[49] The District Attorney's Office in June 2011 announced indictments in a conspiracy involving 11 corporations who evaded U.S. economic sanctions on Iran by funneling tens of millions of dollars through Manhattan banks.
[51] Cyrus Vance prosecuted programmer Sergey Aleynikov for duplicating computer code from Goldman Sachs, following the reversal of his federal conviction by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In an unusual move characterized by critics as an effort at grandstanding, Vance's office orchestrated a parade of ex-employees of the bank in a chain, handcuffed to each other, in front of reporters.
The episode was covered in a feature-length documentary by Steve James, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which characterized Vance as using the bank's owners as scapegoats for a broader national pattern of financial misconduct in an effort to appear tough on white-collar crime.
[59] In July 2010, no charges were filed when an MTA tow truck struck and killed a seven-year-old boy standing on the sidewalk.
Despite a history of driving offenses, and admitting that he intentionally hit the gas before entering the sidewalk, the driver was able to regain his cab license, and after a two-month investigation, no charges were filed.
The deal reduced charges of third-degree assault, punishable by up to a year in jail, to leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.
[63] Vance initially came under criticism by the media for ultimately dismissing charges in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, after the French head of the International Monetary Fund was arrested, based on accusations by a hotel maid at the Sofitel hotel who said he had forced her to perform oral sex when she came to clean his room.
[68][69][70][71] The Wall Street Journal wrote: "DSK got neither more nor less than he deserved – something for which he can blame, and thank, Cy Vance and America's justice system.
"[69] He dropped all charges against the defendant on August 11, stating that he could not prove Kahn's guilt beyond reasonable doubt due to questions about the credibility of the accuser Nafissatou Diallo.
[72][73] On March 13, 2019, Vance filed 16 indictments charging mortgage fraud against Paul Manafort, former chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
[75] From August 2017, allegations appeared across various news media outlets concerning Vance's associations, and certain contributions made to his office in relation to past cases.
[81] The case concerned a 22-year old Filipina-Italian model, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who went straight to the police after Weinstein lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt while she protested.
[81] David Boies, an attorney who has represented Weinstein, had donated $10,000 after Vance's office refused to prosecute on the Gutierrez case.
8235 (SDNY), a federal judge ruled that Vance's office had applied the law unconstitutionally, resulting in a lack of notice of prohibited behavior as well as allowing for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
[90] Soon after, state lawmakers Dan Quart and Diane Savino introduced a third iteration of the bill repealing the gravity knife ban.
[97][98] Earlier in February, Vance's office had hired a consulting company to analyze and manage the documents, and engaged prominent New York attorney Mark F. Pomerantz to assist in the investigation.
[99] Vance, and separately New York State Attorney General Letitia James, also investigated the Trump Organization's Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and his family.
[102] Vance passed the ongoing investigation to the next New York County District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who took office on January 1, 2022.