Samourai Wallet & Tornado Cash Prosecutor Damian Williams to Step Down in December
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the district's chief federal law enforcement officer, announced his resignation. He will step down from his position effective at 11:59 p.m. on December 13, 2024.
- Damian Williams assumed office on October 10, 2021, appointed by President Joe Biden. During his three-year tenure, Williams has overseen many high-profile cases, including the convictions of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried and Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, the prosecutions of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and rap artist Sean "Diddy" Combs, as well as the developers of Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet privacy tools.
- Edward Y. Kim, the current Deputy United States Attorney, will take over as Acting United States Attorney when he departs. Additionally, President-elect Trump has announced his intention to nominate Jay Clayton, former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead the office.
"Today is a bittersweet day for me, as I announce my resignation as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 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. 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," Damian Williams said in a statement.
- The next hearing for pretrial motions in the Samourai Wallet case was scheduled for December 17th, 2024 at 10 AM ET.
