Damian Williams, Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, is leaving his post Dec. 13 after leading high-profile cases in a historic three-year tenure, USA Today reports. "It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world," Williams said. "It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the office is functioning at an incredibly high level." Williams secured a fraud conviction against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and a corruption and bribery conviction of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. His office is prosecuting New York City Mayor Eric Adams bribery, fraud, and campaign finance charges as well as rapper and music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs on charges including sex trafficking.
Williams, 44, is the first Black prosecutor to lead the office. A 2020 analysis by the Associated Press found that 85% of President-elect Trump’s Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys in his first term were white men. Trump has announced Jay Clayton as his choice to lead the New York office. Clayton was the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump's first term. Williams' high-profile prosecutions on public corruption, fraud on Wall Street and fentanyl trafficking got national attention. Williams created a civil rights unit in his office's criminal division and sought to get a receiver appointed to address violence and dysfunction at the Rikers Island jail. Before his current position, Williams led the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the prosecutor's office. He prosecuted former Rep. Christopher Collins for insider trading and lying to the FBI, and former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for fraud, extortion and money laundering.
Williams served as a law clerk to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland when Garland was an appellate judge.
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