Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Acting Enforcement Director Stephanie Avakian and former federal prosecutor Steven Peikin had been named Co-Directors of the Division of Enforcement. In making the announcement, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton advised:
There is no place for bad actors in our capital markets, particularly those that prey on investors and undermine confidence in our economy. Stephanie and Steve will aggressively police our capital markets and enforce our nation’s securities laws as Co-Directors of the Division of Enforcement. They have each demonstrated market knowledge, impeccable character, and commitment to public service, and I am confident their combined talents and experience will enable them to effectively lead the Division going forward.
Prior to being named Acting Director in December 2016, Ms. Avakian served as Enforcement’s Deputy Director since June 2014. Mr. Peikin joins the SEC for the first time from private practice. Prior to that, from 1996 to 2004, Mr. Peikin served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He was Chief of the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, where he supervised some of the nation’s highest profile prosecutions of accounting fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, and abuses in the foreign exchange market. As a prosecutor, Mr. Peikin also personally investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of securities, commodities, and other investment fraud schemes, as well as other crimes.
As Chairman Clayton continues to appoint the Division leadership at the SEC and establish his own agenda for the Commission as its new Chairman, these Co-Director appointments bear a strong resemblance to those of his predecessors, Chair Mary Jo White and Chair Mary Schapiro. First, in 2009, Chair Schapiro appointed a former federal prosecutor for the first time to lead the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Second, in 2013, Chair White appointed another former federal prosecutor, Andrew Ceresney. In furtherance of the striking similarities, Chair White appointed Mr. Ceresney as a Co-Director with the then Acting Director. Mr. Ceresney eventually took over the Directorship on his own. Thus, while many forecasted that the new Commission may perhaps be friendlier to the industry, with these Co-Director appointments Chairman Clayton looks to be following the lead of his recent predecessors rather than breaking from them. Lastly, if the precedent of the only prior Co-Directorship is any indication, then at some point in the foreseeable future Mr. Peikin will be occupying the Director’s chair on his own, as Mr. Ceresney ultimately did.