Trump Taps Ex-SEC Chair Jay Clayton to Be Wall Street’s Cop (1)

President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Jay Clayton to serve as US Attorney for Manhattan, leading the Justice Department office known as being the sheriff of Wall Street.

The position would mark a shift to criminal law for Clayton, who led the US Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first administration. Since leaving government, Clayton has served as Apollo Global Management Inc.’s independent chair and returned to New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell as a senior adviser.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, often called the “sovereign district” for its independent streak, handles many high-profile financial fraud cases, as well as those alleging terrorism, organized crime and public corruption.

Jay Clayton, former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission

Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

As SEC chair under Trump, Clayton mostly succeeded in casting himself as an independent voice focused on protecting small-time investors from fraud and financial industry abuses rather than waging ideological fights. He cultivated relationships with Republicans and Democrats.

The Trump White House said in mid-2020 that it would tap Clayton to lead SDNY as the office was investigating Trump’s associates. In the end, his nomination never advanced.

“Jay is a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, saying that Clayton did “an incredible job” as SEC Chair during his first term.

Clayton didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has made it clear his administration’s priorities for law enforcement would include a focus on immigration-related and violent crimes and also has made no secret of his willingness to use the Justice Department to pursue his perceived adversaries. The Manhattan US attorney’s office is famous for tackling complex financial cases and appointees are historically veterans of the office.

In the past three years, the office brought several prominent cases including the prosecutions of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang, both convicted of frauds following high-profile trials.

US attorneys prosecute civil and criminal cases for the federal government in 93 districts and generally serve at the behest of specific administrations and depart when a new president takes office. Damian Williams, who currently leads SDNY, hasn’t announced his plans.

(Updates with details on Clayton starting in third paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Ava Benny-Morrison in New York at abennymorris@bloomberg.net;
Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Ben Bain at bbain2@bloomberg.net

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Sara Forden

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