Listen to this articleJohn Durham, a Long Island federal prosecutor, was appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).
A veteran of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Durham, was sworn in Tuesday.
“As someone who has served this office for nearly 20 years, it is truly an honor to be appointed as interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York,” Durham said in a news release about the appointment.
“Our mission remains steadfast and vital: to combat the greatest threats to this district – from violent crime, terrorism and drug trafficking to cybercrime, corruption, white-collar fraud and civil litigation – uphold the rule of law and pursue justice. I, along with my team of dedicated public servants in this great office will never waver in our mission to protect the over eight million residents of this district, and the nation at large,” he added.
Durham joined the office in October 2005, serving in the General Crimes and Long Island Criminal Sections. He held several leadership positions in the office and the Department of Justice, including deputy chief for the Long Island Criminal Section, the office’s capital case coordinator, the attorney general’s Review Committee on Capital Cases and chair of the MS-13 Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force. In August 2019, Durham was appointed to serve as the director of Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), a Department of Justice initiative to combat La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), where he spearheaded indictments against MS-13’s highest-ranking international leaders.
Durham has investigated, prosecuted and supervised federal offenses that include racketeering, murders, terrorism, civil rights, obstruction of justice, armed robberies, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, firearms and public corruption. He directed efforts to dismantle the operations of MS-13 in the EDNY, as well as nationally and internationally. Since 2008, he led teams of investigators and assistant U.S. attorneys who arrested and convicted hundreds of MS-13 leaders, members and associates on charges related to more than 70 murders.
As director of JTFV, Durham led a team of prosecutors and law enforcement officers from across the country and secured indictments against MS-13’s command and control structure across the United States, Central America and Mexico, including the first use of national security charges against MS-13 leaders, officials said.
Durham prosecuted defendants who attempted to travel to Yemen to allegedly join al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and fighting jihad against U.S. allies, and members of other violent criminal organizations.
He prosecuted several high-profile public corruption and civil rights matters, including cases brought against the former chief of department for the Suffolk County Police Department, the former Suffolk County district attorney and former chief of Investigations and chief of the Government Corruption Bureau for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, a then-sitting Nassau County legislator, a New York City Police Department sergeant and a Food and Drug Administration official.
Durham graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1998 and from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2001.
Durham will serve in this role for 120 days or until the presidential nominee is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. President Donald Trump has already selected Nassau County District Court Judge Joseph Nocella Jr. as his pick for U.S. attorney of the EDNY.