The veteran prosecutor who helped convict crypto fraudster Sam Bankman Freed has been named acting Manhattan federal prosecutor, taking over Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case and other high-profile investigations.
Daniel Sassoon, who earlier in his career served as law clerk to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was appointed to the powerful position Monday afternoon, shortly after President Trump took office.
Sassoon, who has been with the department since 2016, assumed his position Monday afternoon “pursuant to an order signed by Acting Attorney General James R. McHenry III,” said Justice Department spokesman Nicholas Biers. said in a statement.
It is unclear how long Sassoon's term will last, given that President Trump has announced plans to nominate Jay Clayton to a key Justice Department position.
Mr. Creighton, a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission who has never prosecuted anyone, must be approved by the Senate before taking over the agency, which has previously filed charges against Mr. Adams and Sean “Diddy” Combs. Preparations are underway for the bombing case trial.
The Southern District of New York has a long history of highly publicized cases of financial fraud, government corruption, and sex trafficking.
Former Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams, who resigned last month, was appointed to head the SDNY in October 2021, nearly 10 months after Joe Biden, who nominated him for the post, took office as president.
Mr. Sassoon is best known for leading the department's prosecution of Mr. Bankman Freed, with a jury awarding the shaggy-haired former crypto whiz to about $100 million from users of the cryptocurrency exchange. He was convicted of stealing dollars.
Prosecutors confront Bankman Fried in a heated cross-examination, saying that hedge fund Alameda Research lost billions of dollars from bankrupt exchange FTX due to “oversights” in “risk management” rather than crimes. He rejected his claim that he had “just borrowed money.”
“You can't go into a jewelry store and steal a diamond necklace and then come out and say there was no security guard,” Sassoon told jurors in his closing statement.
“He knew what he was doing was wrong.”
