Pannun assassination plot: Who is Damian Williams, the US attorney India is up against?

Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a wanted man in India. Now the United States claims to have foiled a plot to assassinate the separatist leader and alleges India’s involvement. The US department of justice (DoJ) filed an indictment on Wednesday in the New York district court, accusing an Indian national identified as Nikhil Gupta and an unnamed Indian government employee of allegedly planning to kill Pannun. The case was filed by 43-year-old federal prosecutor Damian Williams on behalf of the US government. Dubbed the face of the US justice deparment, he has worked on several high-profile cases. Who is Damian Williams? Damian Williams is an attorney for the Southern District of New York, making him Manhattan’s most powerful law enforcement officer for the US government. He is the first Black person to lead the Southern District since it was established in 1789. Nominated by US president Joe Biden, he was confirmed by the Senate in October 2021. After taking office, Williams said “rooting out corruption in our financial markets” would be one of his top priorities, a familiar role for an office known as the main enforcer on Wall Street, according to a report in Reuters. [caption id=“attachment_13452602” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams is the first Black person to lead the Southern District of New York. File photo/Reuters[/caption] As the United States attorney, Williams “supervises the investigation and prosecution of all federal crimes and the litigation of all civil matters in which the United States has an interest. He leads a staff of approximately 450 lawyers, special agents, paralegals and other support professionals,” says the DoJ website. He also serves as chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), a select group of attorneys who advise the Attorney General on matters of policy, procedure, and management. Also read: How a man named Nikhil Gupta ‘plotted to kill’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun What are the cases handled by Williams? Keeping with the legacy of the Southern District of New York, Williams has handled numerous high-profile cases in the last two years. The case about Pannun will not be an easy one, as it poses a diplomatic challenge to India and the US. An Indian government employee directed a plot from India to murder a US-based leader of a Sikh separatist movement, the indictment reads. Williams said, “As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India… We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate US citizens on US soil, and stand ready to investigate, thwart, and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad.” The Indian government has responded to the charges. New Delhi has announced a probe into the charges, a decision welcomed by the US. “The government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that’s good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said . [caption id=“attachment_13452562” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is pictured in his office on 29, November 2023 in New York. US authorities said an Indian government official directed a plot to assassinate Pannun in New York City after he advocated for a sovereign state for Sikhs. AP[/caption] Until now, the most known case that Williams has fought was that against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried . Williams’ charges against Bankman-Fried came just one month after FTX’s collapse, which former prosecutors say is very fast for a complex white-collar case. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have accused prosecutors of rushing to bring the case. Williams’ office ultimately split off several counts it brought after his extradition from the Bahamas for a separate trial after a court in the Caribbean nation said Bankman-Fried could object to the charges. Joshua Naftalis, who worked alongside Williams on fraud cases at the southern district, said the speed with which the charges were filed sent a “quick, emphatic message” to crypto markets. “He’s not afraid to take a calculated risk if it’s for the good of the case,” Naftalis, now a partner at law firm Pallas, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Williams said in a statement that Bankman-Fried’s conviction delivered on that promise, and sends a warning to any fraudster who thinks they are untouchable to “think again, and cut it out”. “And if they don’t, I promise we’ll have enough handcuffs for all of them,” he added. Also read: Nijjar vs Pannun: Why India’s response to Canada and US probes is so different The attorney has brought several indictments against former executives in the rough-and-tumble cryptocurrency space, including Alex Mashinsky who founded the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, reports Reuters. Williams won a victory at trial this year against a former product manager at non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea for insider trading, after earlier securing an insider trading guilty plea from a former Coinbase Global employee. Prosecutors had described the cases as the first insider trading cases brought involving digital assets. In the two years since assuming the office’s top job, Williams has brought multiple major fraud and public corruption cases beyond the crypto space. In May 2022, the office secured a guilty plea from Allianz’s US asset management unit. Allianz agreed to pay more than $6 billion as part of a fraud settlement. Under his leadership, the Southern District of New York also successfully concluded its case against Ghislaine Maxwell , a former socialite and longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reports The Indian Express. Maxwell was found guilty of grooming and sex trafficking girls for abuse by Epstein, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence. This was two months after Williams took charge. In April this year, the attorney called an indictment targeting fentanyl trafficking “the most significant of my tenure,” citing the urgent public health crisis spurred by the synthetic opioid. But the crisis has continued. In September, Williams announced charges against four people allegedly distributing fentanyl out of a Bronx daycare centre, after a one-year-old boy died due to possible exposure, reports Reuters. In September, his office charged New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez with bribery. Williams made the announcement, showing reporters photos of gold bars and stacks of cash found at the senator’s home. Menendez pleaded not guilty. [caption id=“attachment_13452592” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Damian Williams speaks to the media regarding the indictment of Samuel Bankman-Fried the founder of failed crypto exchange FTX in New York City, on 13 December 2022. File photo/Reuters[/caption] What was the early life of Williams? Williams was born in Brooklyn to parents who immigrated to the US from Jamaica in the early 1970s. He spent most of his growing-up years in Atlanta after his family moved there when he was a baby. While his father studied medicine, his mother was a student of nursing. The attorney is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard. He also secured a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge. Williams has had a brush with politics. He worked as a field organiser on John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. In 2004, he was hired by Terry McAuliffe, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee, as his “body man” — his driver, executive assistant and one of his closest aides, according to the report in The New York Times (NYT). “I threw so much at him,” McAuliffe was quoted as saying in NYT. “Never rattled, always smiling, solid as a rock.” With inputs from agencies