Jeffrey Veltri named as FBI’s top agent in South Florida. He was an assistant PD in Broward

Jeffrey B. Veltri is the new special agent in charge of the FBI in South Florida.

Before starting his career with the bureau a couple of decades ago, Veltri served as an assistant public defender in the Broward County Pubic Defender’s Office.

While lawyers rising through the ranks of the FBI is fairly common, Veltri’s ascent from a local public defender’s office defending accused indigents to the head of a major FBI field office probing federal crimes is an unusual path. The FBI Miami Field Office, with more than 400 special agents, juggles a variety of criminal investigations, from internet child pornography to healthcare fraud to counterterrorism investigations.

Veltri, who was recently appointed to his new position by FBI Director Christopher Wray, fits the field office’s profile.

Veltri earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology from the University of South Florida and a law degree from the Widener University School of Law in Delaware. He started his FBI career as a special agent with the San Diego Field Office, investigating healthcare fraud and then international terrorism matters.

In 2006, Veltri was deployed to Iraq to work with the Justice Department’s Regime Crimes Liaison Office and investigate war crimes, including advising the Iraqi Special Tribunal’s prosecution of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein.

Five years later, he was promoted to supervisory special agent and transferred to the Cyber Division at FBI headquarters.

In 2013, Veltri moved back to the San Diego Field Office to supervise healthcare fraud, civil rights and public corruption squads, and was also responsible for border corruption, human trafficking and child exploitation task forces.

Three years later, he was promoted to chief of the Civil Rights Unit in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI headquarters, overseeing all hate crime, police brutality and human trafficking probes.

In 2018, Veltri was named an assistant special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Office, followed three years later by a promotion to a section chief in the Security Division at FBI headquarters.