Donald Trump picks Jay Clayton as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor

Republican President-elect Donald Trump nominated former US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to serve as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor on Thursday. 

Clayton, a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell who specializes in mergers and capital-raising, is a political independent who developed a reputation while at the SEC for trying to forge consensus with the agency's Democratic commissioners. 

A spokesman for the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, as the unit is formally known, declined to comment. Clayton did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Clayton is likely to be seen as a somewhat unconventional pick for the office known for high-profile financial crime and public corruption prosecutions, as he does not have any criminal law experience. The SEC and Southern District typically work closely together on financial crimes enforcement. 

 

During Democratic President Joe Biden's administration, the office has been led by Damian Williams, a longtime prosecutor with the office who previously led the district's securities and commodities task force. 

Williams has secured the convictions of former FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried and fund manager Sung Kook "Bill" Hwang. His office also won the conviction of US Senator Bob Menendez on bribery charges, and charged New York Mayor Eric Adams with bribery. 

Bankman-Fried, Hwang, Menendez and Adams all pleaded not guilty. 

Sometimes referred to as the "Sovereign District," the Manhattan US attorney's office is known for an unusual degree of independence from the Justice Department compared with its counterparts around the country. 

The choice of Clayton to lead the office is likely to draw less opposition from Trump's critics than other picks, like former US Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general. The Justice Department probed Gaetz as part of a sex trafficking investigation. He did not face charges and denies wrongdoing. 

"Certainly Clayton is somebody who has been thought to respect the rule of law and ordinary government processes, things which are now no longer taken for granted," said Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia University and former Manhattan federal prosecutor. 

Geoffrey Berman, the former Manhattan US attorney, frequently clashed with the Justice Department during Trump's first presidential term from 2017 to 2021 and did not shy away from taking on figures in Trump's orbit. 

In July 2020, Clayton was briefly nominated by Trump to replace Berman, who was fired by Trump after refusing to step aside.

At the time, Berman's office was investigating Trump's former attorney Rudolph Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine.

Williams announced in 2022 that the probe had ended with no charges. 

Under Clayton, the SEC enforcement team pursued a series of enforcement cases against cryptocurrency firms for initial coin offerings. It brought a high-profile case against Ripple, accusing the blockchain company of illegally raising more than $1.3 billion. Ripple denied wrongdoing. 

"It's exciting and good for the office," said Steven Peikin, former co-director of SEC enforcement under Clayton and a former prosecutor at the US attorney's office in Manhattan. "This is something that he's wanted for a long time, and I'm glad he will get the chance to do it." 

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