President Donald Trump said he intends to appoint James M. McDonald as the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, placing a former derivatives regulator with deep crypto experience atop the country’s most active venue for digital-asset prosecutions.
Trump Names Former CFTC Enforcer
In a Saturday post on Truth Social, Trump praised McDonald, an Oklahoma native and former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district, and said he would deliver strong results for the office.
“I am confident that Jamie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as he has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, our Law Enforcement Patriots, the Legal Community, and the Judicial Bench,” he wrote.
McDonald served as Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during Trump’s first term. From 2017 to 2020, McDonald ran the agency’s entire enforcement program, including investigations, market surveillance and the whistleblower office, at a regulator that has brought some of the largest cases against crypto firms.
He joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner in 2021, where he has represented exchanges and individuals across the crypto sector in government investigations, among them BlockFi in its settlement with the SEC and 52 states and territories.
The Southern District handles major crypto cases. Its prosecutors secured the conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, charged Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky, and jailed figures behind the OneCoin scheme. Its reach over Wall Street and lower Manhattan has long made it the default forum for financial-fraud and digital-asset cases.
From Crypto Regulator to Crypto Defender
After policing derivatives markets at the CFTC, McDonald spent five years advising crypto clients on the other side of enforcement actions, giving him a view of how these cases are built and fought.
McDonald would follow Jay Clayton, the former SEC chair who has led the district and signaled that crypto remains in its sights. At a February forum, Clayton’s office indicated it was weighing how existing fraud statutes apply to prediction markets and rejected calls for a hands-off approach to the sector.
Just recently, Trump crypto advisor Patrick Witt said the White House is still aiming to pass the CLARITY Act by July 4, claiming that behind-the-scenes talks are continuing at full pace. Asked in an interview whether that deadline still held, Witt indicated lawmakers are making progress on the issues Democratic senators flagged.
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