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, previously served as Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2017 to 2020. 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.

The resume that matters

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, 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.

Why the Southern District matters for crypto

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.