President Donald Trump has named James M. McDonald as the next US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, placing a former crypto enforcement heavyweight at the helm of the most consequential federal prosecutor’s office in the country.
McDonald, currently a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, previously served as Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2017 to 2021. During that stint, he created a task force specifically focused on digital assets. Now he’ll oversee an office that has prosecuted some of the most high-profile crypto cases in history.
The resume that matters
Before his CFTC role, McDonald worked as an Assistant US Attorney in the very same Southern District he’ll now lead. He also served as Deputy Associate Counsel in the George W. Bush White House.
After leaving the CFTC in 2021, McDonald joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner. There, he represented clients in cryptocurrency-related investigations.
