Kurt G. Alme has been appointed as the U. S. attorney for the District of Montana by U. S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

He was sworn in by Chief U. S. District Judge Brian Morris on March 17 and will serve on an interim basis as the U. S. attorney for a period of 120 days or until a presidential nominee has been confirmed by the Senate.

Timothy Racicot, who was previously the first assistant U.S. attorney, which is the number two position in the district, was the acting U.S. attorney since Feb. 17.

Keri Leggett, spokesperson of the office, told The Electric that Racicot had taken over automatically under the Vacancy Reform Act, and since Alme has been sworn in, now returns to his previous position.

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Leggett said Bondi had also recently appointed interim U.S. attorneys in other districts.

Alme previously served as an assistant U. S. attorney in Montana from 2003 to 2010, focusing on financial investigations involving white collar fraud, government program fraud, bankruptcy fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

Alme also served as the first assistant U. S. attorney from 2006 to 2010, before leaving to serve as the executive vice president and later president and general counsel of the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch Foundation.

In September 2017, Alme was confirmed as Montana’s U. S. attorney, a post he held until December 2020.

Since then, he served as state budget director for Gov. Greg Gianforte and most recently as the executive vice president for planned giving with the National Christian Foundation.

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Leggett said that Alme remains a licensed attorney and the Montana Bar Association shows him as an active member.

Alme is a Great Falls native who graduated from Custer County District High School in Miles City.

He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado summa cum laude and his law degree from Harvard Law School cum laude. After graduation from law school, he clerked for Montana U. S. District Judge Charles Lovell, was a partner in the regional law firm now known as Crowley Fleck, and served as director of the Montana Department of Revenue under Gov. Judy Martz.

“I am grateful to Attorney General Bondi for the opportunity to serve again as U.S. attorney for Montana,” Alme said in a release. “The U. S. attorney’s office has an outstanding group of people who are giving their careers to make Montana safer and fairly represent the U.S. in legal matters. I look forward to again working with them and all of our dedicated federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement and prosecuting partners to continue the important work of combating violent crime, the trafficking of methamphetamine and fentanyl and illegal immigration.”