US Prosecutor Who Took Down Diddy And R.Kelly To Quit Before Trump White House
Source: ANGELA WEISS / Getty
Manhattan’s top US prosecutor is stepping down before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, ending his 4-year tenure.
According to Bloomberg, Damian Williams, who has served as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York since 2021, has privately told his associates that he plans to leave SDNY before Trump is in office. Last week, Trump announced he would pick Jay Clayton as Williams’ successor. Clayton served as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission until 2020.
Williams, whom President Joe Biden appointed in August 2021, was the first Black prosecutor to be SDNY US Attorney. Before becoming US Attorney, Williams served as Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the Southern District of New York. The Brooklyn-bred Jamaican attorney holds degrees from the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and Yale Law School.
Williams and his team relentlessly took on high-profile on Wall Street and in Hollywood. Under Williams’ lead, federal prosecutors indicted big-name players, including billionaires FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang.
Damian Williams didn’t just take on Wall Street criminals; he also prosecuted Diddy and R. Kelly.
In the R. Kelly case, Wiliams secured convictions for racketeering and sex trafficking early last year, resulting in the disgraced singer being sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, with one year to run consecutive to the 30-year sentence previously imposed in the Eastern District of New York.
In March, Williams led a federal raid on Diddy’s homes just months after the music mogul was sued by Cassie for sexual assault and sex trafficking. According to reports, Homeland Security Investigations, who specialize in human trafficking cases, carried out the raids on Diddy’s Los Angeles and Miami homes.
Williams and the Southern District of New York were also one of the three agencies reportedly involved in the federal indictment against NYC Mayor Eric Adams. Adams is facing “five federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations that prosecutors said began when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor,” the New York Times reported.
It’s unclear what Damian Williams will do after his time in the Southern District of New York, but one thing is for sure: while he was there, he held the law to a certain standard. But that standard could be long gone under a Trump presidency.
SEE ALSO:
NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Federal Indictment Is US Attorney Damian Williams’ Latest High Profile Case
Federal Prosecutor Whose Office Is Investigating Diddy Previously Took Down R. Kelly