Meet the U.S. Attorney

Jay Clayton
United States Attorney

Jay Clayton is the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. During Mr. Clayton’s tenure, the Office has prioritized the safety and interests of New Yorkers and the tens of millions who visit the city and region each year. The Office is particularly focused on gun violence, gang activity, drug trafficking (including operations enabled by cartels and foreign governments), hate crimes, sex trafficking, child exploitation, national security threats, cyberattacks and cyber-enabled fraud, securities and corporate fraud, and money laundering.   

Recent matters that reflect the priorities of the Office include:

• Indictment of 19 defendants for conspiring to distribute millions of doses of fentanyl and crack cocaine in Washington Square Park
• Convictions of Alon, Oren, and Tal Alexander of multiple federal sex offenses, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking
• Guilty plea of former Venezuelan general Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and the indictment and arrest of Nicolas Maduro on narco-terrorism and other charges
• Indictment of Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi for an alleged terrorist attack in New York on March 7, 2026, outside Gracie Mansion
• Convictions in over a dozen sex trafficking and child exploitation matters
• Indictment of First Brands CEO in connection with alleged years-long, multibillion-dollar fraud
• Over a dozen indictments and convictions for gang-related murders and drug-trafficking offenses

Mr. Clayton has extensive experience in the public and private sectors. He was Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from May 2017 to December 2020. During his tenure, the SEC prioritized the protection of retail investors and worked to expand their access to investment opportunities. Under his leadership, the Commission brought more than 2,300 enforcement actions — often in coordination with the SDNY and other criminal authorities — resulting in over $10 billion in penalties and disgorgement and returning more than $3 billion to harmed investors. While at the SEC, Mr. Clayton was also a member of several key regulatory and advisory bodies, including the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Financial Stability Board, and the Federal Housing Finance Oversight Board. He frequently testified before Congress on issues such as improving market integrity and efficiency, digital asset regulation, cybersecurity, retail investor interests, COVID-19-related regulatory responses, and U.S.-China economic interdependence.

Following his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Clayton served as Chairman of Apollo Global Management and returned to Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as Of Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor. He also served on the board of the American Express Company and held various other advisory and oversight roles in both the public and private sectors.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Clayton was an associate (1995-2000) and partner (2001-2017) at Sullivan & Cromwell, where he was a member of the firm’s Management Committee and co-headed its Corporate Practice. Mr. Clayton also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School beginning in 2009 and at its Wharton Business School beginning in 2021. From 2022 to 2025, he co-chaired the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Law and Economics.

Mr. Clayton began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Marvin Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1993-1995). He holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, summa cum laude; a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of Cambridge as a Thouron Scholar; and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, cum laude, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He is admitted to practice in New York and Washington, D.C.