First-Ever Black U.S. Attorney Named for NY’s Southern District
Damian Williams has been confirmed by the Senate to be the next United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, making him the the most powerful federal law enforcement official in Manhattan and, significantly, the first Black person to lead the storied 232-year-old office.
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Damian Williams. Photo courtesy US Attorney’s Office, Manhattan
Damian Williams has been confirmed by the Senate to be the next United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, making him the most powerful federal law enforcement official in Manhattan and, significantly, the first Black person to lead the storied 232-year-old office, reports the New York Times.
The Southern District handles some of the nation’s most complex fraud, terrorism and corruption cases.
David E. Patton, the city’s federal public defender, said Mr. Williams now has the opportunity to institute key reforms in the way his prosecutors charge cases, like embracing President Biden’s campaign pledge to end mandatory minimum sentences. Another issue Williams will confront is diversity in his office: Of its 232 assistant U.S. attorneys and executives, only seven — including himself — are African American.
In nearly 10 years as a prosecutor, Williams has handled trials involving drugs, guns, identity theft, and bank and accounting fraud, while also being involved in and supervised countless other cases and investigations.
Most prominently, he helped win the convictions of Sheldon Silver, the former powerful Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges; and of Chris Collins, the former Republican congressman from western New York, who pleaded guilty in an insider trading case.
