Trump taps former CFTC enforcement chief James McDonald to lead SDNY, the office that prosecuted FTX's Bankman-Fried and other major crypto cases.
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, 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.
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.
The appointment follows Jay Clayton's move to Director of National Intelligence, which created the vacancy at SDNY. Clayton himself was a notable figure in crypto regulation during his time as SEC Chair, where he presided over a wave of enforcement actions against initial coin offerings.
The SDNY covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and several counties north of New York City. The office has historically been the go-to venue for major financial fraud prosecutions.
The office prosecuted Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. It has handled cases involving crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols, and alleged market manipulation schemes across the industry.
McDonald's CFTC enforcement task force coordinated with the Department of Justice and the SEC on cases spanning fraud, manipulation, and unregistered activity. The CFTC has long claimed jurisdiction over certain digital assets as commodities, while the SEC has argued many tokens are securities.
For traders and firms operating in the crypto space, the appointment signals continuity in enforcement posture. The SDNY has been the primary venue for crypto prosecutions, and McDonald's background suggests the office will maintain its focus on digital asset cases. His experience at Sullivan & Cromwell representing crypto clients gives him a view of both sides of the enforcement equation.
The Senate must confirm the nomination. No timeline for a confirmation vote has been set.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.