President Donald Trump mentioned he intends to nominate James M. McDonald as the subsequent U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, putting a former derivatives regulator with deep crypto expertise atop the nation’s most lively venue for digital-asset prosecutions.
Trump Names Former CFTC Enforcer
In a Saturday put up on Reality Social, Trump praised McDonald, an Oklahoma native and former Assistant U.S. Lawyer within the district, and mentioned he would ship sturdy outcomes for the workplace.
“I’m assured that Jamie will ship sturdy outcomes for our Nation as the subsequent United States Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, as he has the respect of, and can work fantastically with, our Regulation Enforcement Patriots, the Authorized Group, and the Judicial Bench,” he wrote.
McDonald served as Director of Enforcement on the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee throughout Trump’s first time period. From 2017 to 2020, McDonald ran the company’s total enforcement program, together with investigations, market surveillance and the whistleblower workplace, at a regulator that has introduced among the largest circumstances in opposition to crypto companies.
He joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a accomplice in 2021, the place he has represented exchanges and people throughout the crypto sector in authorities investigations, amongst them BlockFi in its settlement with the SEC and 52 states and territories.
The Southern District handles main crypto circumstances. Its prosecutors secured the conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, charged Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky, and jailed figures behind the OneCoin scheme. Its attain over Wall Road and decrease Manhattan has lengthy made it the default discussion board for financial-fraud and digital-asset circumstances.
From Crypto Regulator to Crypto Defender
After policing derivatives markets on the CFTC, McDonald spent 5 years advising crypto shoppers on the opposite facet of enforcement actions, giving him a view of how these circumstances are constructed and fought.
McDonald would comply with Jay Clayton, the previous SEC chair who has led the district and signaled that crypto stays in its sights. At a February discussion board, Clayton’s workplace indicated it was weighing how present fraud statutes apply to prediction markets and rejected requires a hands-off method to the sector.
Only in the near past, Trump crypto advisor Patrick Witt mentioned the White Home continues to be aiming to move the CLARITY Act by July 4, claiming that behind-the-scenes talks are persevering with at full tempo. Requested in an interview whether or not that deadline nonetheless held, Witt indicated lawmakers are making progress on the problems Democratic senators flagged.
