George Benjamin Daniels^[2] (born May 13, 1953) is aseniorUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Daniels was born inAllendale, South Carolina. He graduated fromSuffield Academy in 1971, and received aBachelor of Arts degree fromYale University in 1975. He received aJuris Doctor from theUC Berkeley School of Law in 1978.^[3]

Daniels was as a criminal defense attorney for theLegal Aid Society ofNew York City from 1978 to 1980. Afterwards, he was alaw clerk forChief JusticeRose Bird of theCalifornia Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981. From 1981 to 1983, he was in private practice with the New York City law firm ofSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Daniels served as anassistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. He was anadjunct professor of law atBrooklyn Law School from 1988 to 1991.^[3] In 1989, Daniels was appointed a Judge of theCriminal Court of the City of New York by MayorEd Koch. He stepped down from the bench in 1990 to serve as Counsel to MayorDavid Dinkins, but was re-appointed a Judge of the Criminal Court by Dinkins in 1993. He was elected a justice of theSupreme Court of the State of New York in 1995 and served on that until his appointment to the federal bench.

Daniels was nominated by PresidentBill Clinton on August 5, 1999, to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York, vacated by JudgeRobert P. Patterson, Jr. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on February 24, 2000, by a 98–0 vote.^[4] He received his commission on March 9, 2000.^[3][5] Daniels assumedsenior status on May 1, 2021.^[5][6]

On June 18, 2010, Daniels outlined the contours of thein pari delicto doctrine in New York, holding inSEC v. Lee, 720 F. Supp. 2d 305, that:

To successfully apply the doctrine, the plaintiff must be an active, voluntary participant in the wrongful conduct, and the plaintiff's wrongdoing must be at least substantially equal to that of the defendant.... Furthermore, under New York law, the doctrine ofin pari delicto may be subject to the "adverse interest" exception, which applies when an agent is defrauding the principal exclusively for the agent's own benefit and to the detriment of the corporation.... Another exception to thein pari delicto defense is the "innocent insider" exception, which provides that if there is another agent within the corporation who had no knowledge of the fraud, and who had the will and the ability to stop the fraud had it come to his or her attention, thein pari delicto defense will fail...^[7]

On March 9, 2016, Daniels issued adefault judgment againstIran, ordering it to pay $7.5 billion in damages to families of victims who died in theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks, as well as $3 billion to insurers such asChubb Limited that paid out claims resulting from the event. The plaintiffs in the case argued that Iran "provided material support" and training toal Qaeda members, including 9/11 hijackers, throughHezbollah prior to the attacks and was therefore liable. Earlier in 2015, Daniels had ruled thatSaudi Arabia hadsovereign immunity and dismissed all charges against the kingdom for its alleged role in the attacks.^[8]

On December 21, 2017, Daniels granted the Government's motion to dismissCREW v. Trump. On September 13, 2019, theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded Judge Daniels's decision.^[9] The lawsuit challengesPresident of the United StatesDonald J. Trump's business activities under theDomestic andForeign Emoluments Clauses of theUnited States Constitution, which bar the president from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments.

• List of African-American federal judges
• List of African-American jurists

• Court room contact information
• George B. Daniels at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.