Former New York Insurance Regulator Tapped as Special Prosecutor

A New York district attorney is seeking a special prosecutor to investigate possible wrongdoing at a now-closed crime lab.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice says she will ask court approval to appoint Eric Dinallo to lead an investigation. Dinallo is the former state insurance superintendent.

The lab was closed last week. Authorities said they’d learned that police supervisors may have been aware since September that errors were occurring with the analysis of drug evidence.

The findings could lead to exoneration or a reduction in charges for some people convicted of drug offenses.

The lab was placed on probation by a national accrediting agency in December.

Dinallo joined the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner after losing the state Democratic primary nomination for attorney general last year.

Before serving as superintendent of the New York Insurance Department from 2007 to 2009, Dinallo was general counsel for insurance broker Willis Group Holdings and as a managing director and head of regulatory affairs for Morgan Stanley. Before then, he served as chief of the investment protection bureau under former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.