Fani Willis is currently serving as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, encompassing a significant portion of Atlanta. She made history as the inaugural woman to assume this position.
Bio/Wiki
Age-53 years
Full name- Fani Taifa Willis
Height- 5 feet 5 inches
Weight- 63 kg
Born-1971
Birthplace-Inglewood, California, United States
Spouse-Fred Willis
Profession-District Attorney of Fulton County
Nationality-American
Party-Democratic Party
Office-District Attorney of Fulton County since 2021
Family
Fani Willis’ parents are John C. Floyd III, and her mother’s name is unknown. After her parents’ divorce, her mother relocated to California, while Willis predominantly resided with her father. Notably, her father, a former founder of a faction of the Black Panthers, became disenchanted with the movement’s internal conflicts. He later pursued a career in law as a criminal defense attorney.
Husband
Fani Willis married Fred Willis in 1996. At the time, Fred was working as a videographer in an additional job. They divorced in 2005.
Children
They have two daughters together.
Education
After earning a cum laude degree in political science from Howard University in 1993, Willis relocated to Atlanta. She pursued her Juris Doctor at Emory University School of Law and successfully graduated in 1996.
Career
Her initial government position involved serving as a solicitor, where she prosecuted misdemeanors and violations of city ordinances. With a career spanning 16 years in the Fulton County district attorney’s office, Fani Willis notably handled the prosecution of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. As the lead prosecutor in the 2014 to 2015 trial, she, as an assistant district attorney at the time, directed the case against twelve educators accused of manipulating student answers to boost scores on state-administered standardized tests. Subsequently, eleven of them were convicted of racketeering under Georgia’s RICO statute in April 2015.
Transitioning to private practice in 2018, Willis also ran for a position on the Fulton County Superior Court that year, but was unsuccessful. In 2019, she assumed the role of chief municipal judge for South Fulton, Georgia.
District attorney of Fulton County
In 2020, Fani Willis secured the position of district attorney for Fulton County after triumphing over Paul Howard Jr., a six-term incumbent and her former supervisor. Notably, in her capacity, she gained recognition for effectively applying Georgia’s RICO statute to prosecute individuals not associated with organized crime. As of 2023, she continues to utilize the same statute in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators.
Net Worth
Fani Willis has a net worth of 8 million dollars.
DA Fani Willis Defends Special Prosecutor Amid Allegations
On Sunday morning, Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, addressed a church congregation in Atlanta. During her emotionally charged speech, she seemed to publicly acknowledge, for the first time, the allegations of an affair made against her last week. Additionally, she passionately defended the special prosecutor she appointed to handle the election interference case involving Donald Trump.
“I hope for y’all this week I don’t look like what I’ve been through,” she joked as she spoke Sunday at the Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a service to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In the ongoing Georgia election interference case involving former President Trump, one of his co-defendants, Michael Roman, is seeking to dismiss the indictment against him. He accuses District Attorney Willis of engaging in a romantic relationship with a top prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade, leading to financial gain for both. Roman’s filing alleges that Willis intentionally failed to disclose this relationship, potentially committing an “act to defraud the public of honest services.” The 127-page document claims that Wade lacks relevant experience but has received approximately $650,000 in legal fees, portraying it as a self-serving arrangement.
Trump’s attorney is considering joining the complaint against Willis. In her recent livestreamed remarks on Sunday, Willis acknowledged being flawed and imperfect, expressing confusion over the scrutiny of her decision to bring in multiple special prosecutors. While not naming Wade, she defended him as a great friend with impeccable credentials, suggesting racial motivations behind the attacks on him.
“I appointed three special counselors. It’s my right to do. Paid them all the same hourly rate,” Willis said. “They only attack one. I hired one white woman: a good personal friend and great lawyer, a superstar, I tell you. I hired one white man: brilliant, my friend, and a great lawyer. And I hired one Black man, another superstar, a great friend, and a great lawyer.”
Willis refrained from explicitly denying or directly addressing the allegations of an inappropriate relationship with Wade. Instead, she chose to emphasize Wade’s professional qualifications, underscoring his extensive résumé. Willis pointed out that Wade received a higher salary when hired by a Republican in another county, highlighting his diverse experience as a prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, and special assistant attorney general.
“Isn’t it them playing the race card when they only question one?” she said.
“I am tired of being treated cruelly,” she said.
