NY prosecutor of Jamaican heritage makes history in US Attorney post

Lester Hinds, Gleaner Writer

Veteran federal prosecutor, Damian Williams, whose parents are Jamaicans, has become the first black man to get the job of United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

This is significant as it is the first time a black man has headed the office in its 232 year history.

Williams was nominated by President Joe Biden last year but only won Senate confirmation on Tuesday.

His nomination was championed by senior New York US Senator, Charles Schumer.

Williams was born in Brooklyn but was raised in Atlanta.

His Jamaican parents migrated to the US in the early 1970s and they met while his father was studying medicine at Howard University in Washington and his mother nursing.

He excelled in academics while in high school and served as student body president in his senior year.

He attended Harvard where he majored in economics and the University of Cambridge where he obtained his master's degree in international relations.

The powerful Southern District, which covers the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City, along with Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester counties, handles some of the nation's most complex fraud, terrorism and corruption cases, including prosecutions that reached former US President Donald Trump's inner circle.

The office is also investigating former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, himself a former head of the southern district office.

Williams previously served as Southern District prosecutor for nearly a decade.

He will oversee high-profile cases such as the sex-trafficking trial next month of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein.

Also, he'll lead the investigation into Rudy Giuliani, the former lawyer to former President Donald Trump, over his involvement in Ukraine before the 2020 presidential election.

More about Damian Williams

* He holds degrees from Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the Yale Law School.

* Williams served as a clerk to then federal appellate judge and now US Attorney General Merrick Garland, and to late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

* Following his clerkships, Williams worked in the private sector at white-collar Manhattan law firm Paul Weiss before joining the Southern District of New York as a federal prosecutor in 2012.

* He worked on several high-profile cases, including the prosecutions of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Representative Chris Collins on corruption and insider trading charges respectively.

* He is the nephew of Orville Williams who was a goalkeeper for Jamaica College when the school won the Manning Cup in 1963.

* Damian's younger brother, Andre, is a dentist in the United States.

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