Jamaican American Damian Williams, the Southern District of New York’s United States Attorney, indicated that he will leave his role on December 13. After he leaves, Edward Kim, his deputy, will assume temporary leadership.
According to a news release from the attorney’s office, “US Attorney Damian Williams said on Monday that he plans to exit his current role at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York at 11:59 p.m. on December 13, 2024.”
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Williams mentioned in the release, “Today is a bittersweet day for me, as I announce my resignation as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,”
Adding, “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.”
He noted, “It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the office is functioning at an incredibly high level – upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence.”
He is resigning in advance of Donald Trump’s reelection to the US presidency.
Securing the convictions of prominent defendants such as US Senator Bob Menendez and cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried, Williams, the senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan, also filed criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Sean “P Diddy” Combs.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who was leaving office, named Williams to the position in 2021.
Williams was suggested by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Before taking on his present position, he was the head of the Manhattan office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.
The US president-elect, Donald Trump, had said that he would succeed Williams. It is anticipated that Jay Clayton, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will be appointed.
His departure raises questions about whether the charges of P Diddy and Mayor Adams will move forward under the incoming US Attorney.
In the more than two centuries that the Southern District of New York has existed, Williams is the first black man to be named United States Attorney for the Southern District.
In 2021, Williams, a second-generation Jamaican, was approved by the US Senate to lead one of the most influential US Attorney’s offices in the country.
