United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York (Manhattan) and Bronx, and the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases, including but not limited to those involving white collar crime, domestic terrorism, cybercrime, public corruption, organized crime, and civil rights disputes.

The Southern District has earned itself the moniker the "Sovereign District of New York". Its resources, culture, and accompanying FBI field office have given the SDNY a reputation for being exceptionally aggressive in its pursuit of criminals. Due to its jurisdiction over the New York City borough of Manhattan, the preeminent financial center of the United States of America, the office's incumbent is often nicknamed the "Sheriff of Wall Street".

Organization The office is organized into two divisions handling civil and criminal matters. The Southern District of New York also has two offices: in Manhattan and White Plains. The office employs approximately 220 assistant U.S. attorneys.Organization and Operation, U.S. Attorney's Office

List of U.S. attorneys In 1814, the District of New York was divided into the Northern and the Southern District. TermU.S. AttorneyPartyAppointed by1–Jonathan FiskDemocratic-RepublicanJames Madison2–Robert L. TillotsonDemocratic-RepublicanJames Monroe3–John DuerDemocratic-RepublicanJohn Quincy Adams4–James A. HamiltonDemocraticAndrew Jackson5–William M. PriceDemocratic6–Benjamin F. ButlerDemocraticMartin Van Buren7–Ogden HoffmanWhigWilliam Henry Harrison8–Benjamin F. ButlerDemocraticJames Polk9–Charles McVeanDemocratic10–Lorenzo B. ShepardDemocratic11– Jonathan Prescott HallWhigZachary Taylor12–Charles O'ConorDemocraticFranklin Pierce13–John McKeonDemocratic14–Theodore SedgwickDemocraticJames Buchanan15–James I. RooseveltDemocratic16–Edward Delafield SmithRepublicanAbraham Lincoln17–Daniel S. DickinsonDemocratic18–Samuel G. CourtneyDemocraticAndrew Johnson19–Edwards PierrepontRepublicanUlysses S. Grant20–Noah DavisRepublican21– George Bliss Jr.Republican22–Stewart L. WoodfordRepublican23–Elihu RootRepublicanChester A. Arthur24–William DorsheimerDemocraticGrover Cleveland25– Stephen A. WalkerDemocratic26– Edward MitchellRepublicanBenjamin Harrison–Henry C. PlattDemocraticGrover Cleveland27–Wallace MacfarlaneDemocratic28–Henry Lawrence BurnettRepublicanWilliam McKinley29–Henry L. StimsonRepublicanTheodore Roosevelt30– Henry A. WiseRepublicanWilliam Howard Taft31–Hudson Snowden MarshallDemocraticWoodrow Wilson32–Francis Gordon CaffeyDemocratic33– William HaywardRepublicanWarren Harding34–Emory BucknerRepublicanCalvin Coolidge35–Charles H. TuttleRepublican–Robert E. ManleyRepublicanHerbert Hoover36–George Z. MedalieRepublican–Thomas E. DeweyRepublicanFranklin D. Roosevelt37–Martin Thomas Conboy Jr.Democratic–Francis W. H. AdamsDemocratic38–Lamar HardyDemocratic–Gregory Francis NoonanDemocratic39–John T. CahillDemocratic40–Mathias F. CorreaDemocratic–Howard F. CorcoranDemocratic41–James B. M. McNallyDemocratic42–John F. X. McGoheyDemocratic43–Irving SaypolDemocraticHarry S. Truman44–Myles J. LaneDemocratic45–J. Edward LumbardRepublicanDwight D. Eisenhower–Lloyd F. MacMahonRepublican46–Paul W. WilliamsRepublican–Arthur H. ChristyRepublican47–Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr.Republican–Morton S. RobsonRepublicanJohn F. Kennedy48–Robert MorgenthauDemocratic49– Whitney North Seymour Jr.RepublicanRichard Nixon50–Paul J. CurranRepublican–Thomas J. CahillRepublicanGerald Ford51–Robert B. FiskeRepublican–William M. TendyRepublicanJimmy Carter52–John S. Martin Jr.Democratic53–Rudy GiulianiRepublicanRonald Reagan–Benito RomanoRepublicanGeorge H. W. Bush54–Otto G. ObermaierRepublican55–Mary Jo WhiteUnaffiliated2013 Speech to the 14th Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Corporate Securities and Financial Law Lecture, Fordham Law School SEC. (October 3, 2013). Retrieved December 14, 2014Bill Clinton56–James ComeyRepublicanGeorge W. Bush–David N. KelleyDemocratic57–Michael J. GarciaRepublican–Lev DassinUnaffiliated58–Preet BhararaDemocraticBarack Obama–Joon KimDonald Trump–Geoffrey BermanRepublicanJune 20, 2020–October 10, 2021Audrey StraussDemocratic59October 10, 2021–December 13, 2024Damian WilliamsDemocraticJoe BidenDecember 13, 2024–January 20, 2025Edward KimJanuary 21, 2025–February 13, 2025Danielle SassoonRepublicanDonald TrumpFebruary 13, 2025-April 16, 2025Matthew PodolskyApril 16, 2025-July 29, 2026 Jay ClaytonIndependentJuly 29, 2026-Present Jamie McDonald

Notable assistants Michael F. Armstrong, lawyer Bob Arum, boxing promoter Debra A. Livingston, lawyer and judge Neil Barofsky, special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program Bernard Bell, professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for President in 1944 and 1948 Eddie Eagan, former Olympic athlete Louis Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Patrick Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Felix Frankfurter, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States John Marshall Harlan II, associate justice, Supreme Court of the United States Elie Honig, lawyer and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Arthur L. Liman, criminal defense attorney Robert J. McGuire, former New York City Police Commissioner Michael Mukasey, former United States Attorney General Thomas Francis Murphy, federal prosecutor and judge in New York City; prosecutor in the two perjury trials of Alger Hiss Mary Grace Quackenbos, first woman to hold this post in the United States Charles Rangel, U.S. Representative from Harlem Henry Dwight Sedgwick, lawyer and author Franklin A. Thomas, former director of the Ford Foundation Maya Wiley (born 1964), civil rights activist and lawyer, 2021 mayoral candidate for New York City

In popular culture

Television The Showtime drama series Billions is loosely based on Preet Bharara's prosecution of SAC Capital and other hedge funds.

The ABC legal drama For the People depicts new defense attorneys and prosecutors working in the Southern District of New York.

The 2020 Netflix series Fear City: New York vs the Mafia documents the work of the FBI and the Southern District of New York against the Five Families of the Italian American Mafia in the 1980s.

References

External links United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Official Website