Nicholas L. McQuaid

On January 21, 2021, Nicholas L. McQuaid was appointed as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and named Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. As Acting Assistant Attorney General, Mr. McQuaid supervises the Division’s more than 600 federal prosecutors who conduct investigations and prosecutions involving organized and transnational crime, gang violence, securities fraud, health care fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, public corruption, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, child exploitation, international narcotics trafficking, human rights violations, and other crimes, as well as matters involving international affairs and sensitive law enforcement techniques.

Mr. McQuaid began his career in 2007 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As an AUSA, Mr. McQuaid prosecuted significant cases involving racketeering, murder, narcotics trafficking, wire, bank and securities fraud, and money laundering.

In 2013, Mr. McQuaid joined the White House Counsel’s Office and during his nearly four-year tenure, handled a variety of sensitive litigation and investigation-related matters.  In that role, Mr. McQuaid also served as a liaison with the Department of Justice on criminal and civil litigation matters, and advised the President and senior White House staff on risk management, ethics, and compliance matters.  He most recently served in private practice. 

Mr. McQuaid clerked for U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the SDNY, as well as for U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. McQuaid earned his Bachelor of Arts with High Honors from Wesleyan University in 1996 and his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 2005 where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone and James Kent Scholar.