Jamaican-American attorney leading case against Diddy: 10 facts about Damian Williams
Superstar rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs pleaded not guilty this week to racketeering and sex trafficking charges, and was ordered to remain in custody pending a trial.
READ: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
The prosecutor leading the case against Combs is 44-year-old Damian Williams, the head of the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, who is of Jamaican parentage.
Observer Online has compiled 10 things you should know about Williams.
1. Williams was born in New York City to Jamaican immigrant parents and raised in the Atlanta metropolitan area. His parents hail from Frome in the western Jamaica parish of Westmoreland.
2. He is the first black US attorney for the Southern District of New York, recommended by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in March 2021 and nominated by US President Joe Biden later that year before assuming the position.
3. His role sees him overseeing the investigation and prosecution of all federal offenses and litigation of all civil cases in the district.
4. He is a graduate of Cambridge University, Harvard University and Yale Law School.
5. For his secondary education, he attended Woodward Academy in Atlanta, where he was student body president.
6. Williams reportedly worked as Judge Merrick Garland’s law clerk at the US Courts of Appeal from 2007 to 2008. He also worked as a legal clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Stevens from 2008 to 2009, according to US media reports.
7. Prior to his appointment as the top federal prosecutor in New York, he reportedly served as assistant US attorney for the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, with responsibility for the securities and commodities fraud task force.
8. He is married to academic and fellow Harvard graduate Jennifer Wynn.
9. Williams has been involved in the prosecution of other high-profile individuals, including Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried and Bob Menendez.
10. Regarding the Diddy case, he reportedly accused the hip hop mogul of using his business empire to exploit and abuse women. “As alleged in the indictment, for years, Sean Combs used the business empire he controlled to sexually abuse and exploit women, as well as to commit other acts of violence and obstruction of justice,” he reportedly said.
