Trump nominates Long Island judge for Brooklyn US attorney
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WASHINGTON – US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a state court judge from Long Island to be US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, a key prosecutor’s office that has aggressively brought cases involving malfeasance on Wall Street and beyond.
Mr Joseph Nocella Jr, a graduate of Columbia Law School, served as a district court judge in Nassau County, according to Trump. If confirmed, he would replace Mr Breon Peace, a Brooklyn native who was appointed US attorney by President Joe Biden in 2021. Mr Peace has said he would step down on Jan 10.
“Judge Nocella has a strong record of bringing law and order to the incredible people of New York,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The Eastern District of New York is one of the highest-profile offices in the country and handles cases involving the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, as well as Suffolk and Nassau in Long Island. Mr Nocella previously worked as a prosecutor in the office from 1991 to 1995 and has spent about 10 years in private practice.
During Mr Peace’s tenure, the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office brought high-profile prosecutions such as a sex-trafficking case against singer R Kelly, a fraud indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and the criminal conviction of former US congressman George Santos. BLOOMBERG
