Jay Clayton

Jay Clayton
Official portrait, 2017
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Assumed office
April 16, 2025
Interim: April 16, 2025 – August 19, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMatthew Podolsky (acting)
Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
In office
May 4, 2017 – December 23, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMichael Piwowar (acting)
Succeeded byGary Gensler
Personal details
Born
Walter Joseph Clayton III

(1966-07-11) July 11, 1966
Newport News, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s)Gretchen Butler
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania (BS, JD)
King's College, Cambridge (MA)

Walter J. "Jay" Clayton III (born July 11, 1966) is an American attorney. He was the 32nd Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017 until December 23, 2020.

From 1993 to 1995, Clayton clerked for Marvin Katz, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.[1]

At Sullivan & Cromwell, Clayton was co-managing partner of the firm's General Practice Group.[2]

On January 4, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Clayton to be SEC Chairman.[3] On May 2, 2017, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37 to confirm Clayton as Chairman of the SEC. Votes cast in favor of Clayton's confirmation included nine Democrats and one Independent alongside 51 Republican votes.[4] On May 4, 2017, Clayton was sworn in, marking the official beginning of his role as Chairman.[5]

On June 19, 2020, United States Attorney General Bill Barr announced that President Trump would nominate Clayton to replace Geoffrey Berman as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.[6] However, Clayton was not selected, and instead Audrey Strauss was picked as acting US attorney for Southern District of New York.[7]

In April 2025, Clayton was nominated by President Trump to become the interim U.S. Attorney for Manhattan.[8]

References

  1. "Jay Clayton". Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  2. "We Don't Need a Crisis to Act Unitedly Against Cyber Threats". Knowledge@Wharton. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  3. Lovelace Jr., Berkeley (4 January 2017). "SECChairNom". CNBC. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  4. "Senate Confirms Wall St Attorney Jay Clayton to Head SEC". The New York Times. 2017-05-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  5. "Clayton Sworn In As SEC Chairman". www.mondaq.com. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  6. Press, The Associated (2020-06-19). "US Attorney Who Oversaw Cases of Trump Allies Steps Down". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  7. Tabuchi, Hiroko (January 14, 2021). "Toyota to Pay a Record Fine for a Decade of Clean Air Act Violations". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  8. "Jay Clayton to be interim US attorney for Southern District of New York, Trumps says". Reuters. 2025-04-16. Retrieved 2025-06-03.