The new chairman creates a co-director structure that’s meant to address recusal concerns.
Stephanie Avakian, co-director, SEC Division of Enforcement
The SEC reports that Stephanie Avakian, acting director of the division of enforcement, and Steven Peikin, managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell’s criminal defense and investigations group, have been named co-directors of the division of enforcement, the commission’s largest unit with more than 1,200 employees.
Avakian will continue to work out of the SEC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, while Peikin will split his time between Washington and the commission’s New York regional office, according to an SEC statement.
Avakian became acting director of the enforcement division in December 2016, after serving as deputy director of the division since June 2014. She replaced Andrew J. Ceresney, who stepped down after a four-year term.
During Ceresney’s tour as SEC head, the agency “filed more than 2,850 enforcement actions and obtained judgments and orders totaling more than $13.8 billion in monetary sanctions,” FTF News reported at the time of his departure.
“In addition, the regulator also charged more than 3,300 companies and over 2,700 individuals, including many CEOs, chief financial officers (CFOs), and other senior corporate officers. “
The dual-director structure is intended to “ease some of the issues created by Mr. Peikin’s past work
Steven Peikin, co-director, SEC Division of Enforcement
for Wall Street,” as Fox Business News puts it, including his “high-profile defense work for Barclays PLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”
The consensus of various reports is that with a co-director in place, Peikin can recuse himself as necessary from matters involving his former clients without affecting the pace of the agency’s work.
Most recently, Peikin was managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell’s criminal defense and investigations group, where his practice focused on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, and internal investigations, the SEC says. At Sullivan & Cromwell, Peikin represented Goldman Sachs and Barclays “in investigations involving sanctions violations, LIBOR manipulation and insider trading,” according to a Reuters report.
The SEC also notes that Peikin also is adjunct professor of law at New York University Law School, where he taught a class on the criminal enforcement of securities and commodities laws.
In addition, from 1996 to 2004, Peikin was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was chief of the office’s securities and commodities fraud task force.
Before being named deputy director, Avakian was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where she was a vice chair of the firm’s securities practice and represented financial institutions, public companies, boards and individuals in a broad range of investigations and other matters before the SEC and other agencies, according to a commission statement.
Previously, Avakian worked in the SEC’s division of enforcement as a branch chief in the New York regional office, and later served as counsel to former SEC Commissioner Paul Carey.
In advance of the formal SEC announcement, the two spotlighted cyber-crime as a major SEC enforcement priority.
“There is no place for bad actors in our capital markets, particularly those that prey on investors and undermine confidence in our economy,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton says in a prepared statement. “Stephanie and Steve will aggressively police our capital markets and enforce our nation’s securities laws … 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.”
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